Flags Fly Forever
by Air Force Muffin
Summary: On a kinder Remnant where there are no plots to unleash anarchy and terror, Ruby Rose finds herself the master of her destiny on the baseball diamond. Success may come easily for the new shortstop on the Beacon Hunters, but the triumphs and travails of her teammates will be harder to solve while in pursuit of a championship. Baseball AU.
1. Ruby is Terrible At First Impressions

**A/N: So. This is a RWBY baseball AU. No in-depth knowledge of baseball is really needed, because the story will have a large focus on character interaction. It takes place in Remnant, except baseball is now the most important thing because that means that there's no death, doom or widespread despair. Volume 3 messed me up, and this is my way of attempting to remedy it.**

* * *

I================================I

* * *

 **The Vale Daily News**

 ** _Season In Preview: Beacon Hunters_**

As the baseball season draws near, it's time to take a look at the team representing our corner of Remnant- the Beacon Hunters. Things don't look good this year. Despite a roster containing some of the game's best players, this team might not even be good enough to reach the playoffs this year. Past the small group of superstars and solid contributors, there's only players that are range from mediocre or unproven at best to simply terrible at worst. A run-through of some of the notable faces on this year's team:

Velvet Scarlatina, Center Field: This girl can do everything. A team full of Scarlatinas would be unstoppable. Too bad this team only has one.

Blake Belladonna, Right Field: Her picture is in the dictionary next to the word 'mysterious.' That extends to her abilities, too. Unfortunately, she's the best possible option at her position, for better or for worse.

Nora Valkyrie, Left Field: The best player on this team by miles. If there was ever someone that could singlehandedly carry a team to the World Series, it's this girl, who hits home runs at a rate faster than some people breathe.

Pyrrha Nikos, Third Base: Because having one superstar in the lineup wasn't enough. The road to the playoffs for Beacon starts with the girl who may or may not be a deity walking amongst mere mortals.

Weiss Schnee, Second Base: When Beacon signed Weiss Schnee, the general consensus was that it would have been less dangerous to light a trainload of dust on fire.

Yang Xiao Long, Starting Pitcher: This team's hopes rest on whether Xiao Long can take the next step and become a true ace. Seeing as how she's still prone to literally blowing up on the mound, this is indicative of Beacon's chances at success.

Jaune Arc, Starting Pitcher: Having a rocket for a pitching arm and a knee-buckling curveball sounds like a recipe for success, but Arc's missing one vital ingredient- accuracy. He couldn't hit the wall of a barn if he was standing inside it.

Yatsuhashi Daichi, Catcher: He gets paid millions of lien to squat behind a white pentagon and catch little white balls hurled at him at speeds upward of 90 miles per hour. That says a lot more than any of his statistics.

Lie Ren, First Base: There's not much to say here, really. He hits and he fields, and he does it better than other people.

Cardin Winchester, Starting Pitcher: Signed to an expensive contract over the offseason, he will provide a semblance of stability to the pitching every few days while also spouting off racist views every day. Maybe not the best combination.

Coco Adel, Closer: Led all relievers in the Vale League in Earned Run Average last year. But even more unbelievably, she has never had her beret fall off while pitching.

Fox Alistair, Relief Pitcher: Can generally be trusted with a lead. Like Coco Adel, except worse.

Ruby Rose, Shortstop: Well, this girl certainly fulfills one part of the job label, seeing as she looks like her listed height should start with a 4. Past that, it's anybody's guess as to whether she's any good. When Ozpin decided to sign this girl and give her first shot at the starting shortstop this year, it was viewed as a terrible idea. Maybe not so much anymore. Ozpin saw something in the girl that we didn't, and now we know she could be something special. But too much of Beacon's hopes rest on how good Ruby Rose can be. If she doesn't play well enough, then Beacon probably has no hope at a championship. But if she's good, then it's anybody's guess as to how far they can go.

This should be an interesting year.

* * *

 _ **One Year Ago**_

Ruby Rose was in her element. Bottom of the ninth inning. Two outs. Full count. Score tied. She knew how this could end. One pitch, one swing of the bat, and glory would be hers. Or at least as much glory that one could have while playing for Signal Academy's tiny baseball team.

She could- no, she _would_ get a hit here. Besides, this was what she did best. She'd already gotten four hits today, and a fifth would be nothing.

The pitcher stared down at Ruby, preparing to throw, and Ruby tensed up, waiting for the pitch. He reared back and delivered, sending the ball spinning towards home plate, and in the thousandths of a second leading up to contact, eyes widened, muscles exploded into action, and she whipped the bat around, wood connecting with the ball as it crossed over the heart of the plate.

 _Crack._

There it was- the sweetest sound in all of baseball, when the bat met the ball in a perfect union. When that sound was made, it wasn't a matter of whether it would be a hit or not- it was a matter of how far the hit would go.

In this case, 'how far' was _very_ far. It was an absolute moonshot, flying high and deep into the night and hanging in the air for what seemed to be an eternity, before landing far beyond the fence in left field. Ruby began an elated trot around the bases as the Signal bench erupted in cheers.

Home run. Game over.

* * *

With a groan, Ruby threw open the trunk of her car and tossed her equipment bag in. She couldn't wait to get home and collapse into bed.

In a span of ten minutes, she'd gone from hitting a game-winning home run to being the last person left on the deserted field. Glory was hers, indeed.

She picked up her bat, and then suddenly, a voice came from behind her.

"Hello."

"GAH!" Ruby spun around, wielding her bat, only to be greeted by the sight of a famous face.

Glynda Goodwitch, the three-time MVP of the Vale Baseball League and the current manager of the Beacon Hunters baseball team, stood before her.

Ruby gaped at her, momentarily unable to react, before voicing the first thought that popped into her head.

"You're Glynda Goodwitch! Can I have your autograph?" she asked eagerly.

Goodwitch's face was unreadable. "I see you know who I am, then." She held out her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"Pl-pleased to meet you too," Ruby said, shaking Glynda's hand and wondering if this was a dream. "I'm Roby—no, Ruse—Sorry, I mean Ruby Rose."

"That was quite the home run you hit," Glynda remarked, and Ruby almost collapsed out of sheer excitement, because someone who had once been one of the best baseball players on the planet was _complimenting_ _her_.

"Yeah!" she said. "That guy thought he could just get a fastball by me on a full count, but he was wrong and I think that was the longest home run I hit all year, but not by much, I've been amazing this year and there was no way he was gonna strike me out-" She cut herself off, mortification overtaking her, as she realized that she was bragging about her baseball skills to someone who was exponentially better at said skills.

"It was definitely impressive," Glynda said, and Ruby had to resist the urge to squeal. _Glynda. Goodwitch. Thought. She. Was. Impressive._

"There's someone here who would like to meet you," Glynda continued. She looked around and sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't know for the life of me where he's gone."

"Apologies, Glynda," another voice said. "The popcorn from the snack stand was superb, and I had to get some more before they closed."

This voice belonged to a gray-haired man walking up to them, a travel mug in one hand and a bucket of popcorn in the other. Ruby fought back a gasp as she realized who it was— Ozpin, the legendary owner of the Beacon Hunters- one of Remnant's major league baseball teams. He exuded wisdom, walking with the air of someone who knew more about anything than anyone. This was the calm, shrewd, and _powerful_ man that had run the Hunters for more years than Ruby had been alive, and he _was right here in front of her oh sweet dust she wanted an autograph_ —

Ozpin walked past Glynda and up to Ruby. "Ruby Rose," he said, fixing an intense stare on her. "You… have silver eyes."

Ruby blinked. "Um… Thanks?"

"Out of curiosity, have you ever heard that old legend about those with silver eyes?"

"Yeah. Pretty sure that I'm no warrior."

"Perhaps," Ozpin said vaguely. "But maybe you have the spirit of a warrior." He paused and started to take a drink from his mug, but then he seemed to think better of it and stopped. "So. You put on a tremendous show during that game. We were watching."

"Thanks," Ruby said, her voice shaky. This _had_ to be a dream.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions," he continued.

Ruby shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Why do you play baseball?"

Ozpin's query caught Ruby off-guard. She'd been expecting something that didn't really require a lot of soul-searching to get an answer. Something more like _we'd like to sign you._ "Well…" She shrugged. "I've always wanted to play baseball, since my mom played it, and I want to follow in her footsteps, that's all."

"Your mother played baseball?" Ozpin tilted his head, gazing off into the distance in deep thought. "Was her name Summer Rose, by any chance?"

Ruby nodded eagerly. "Yes, that's her."

"Third baseman, played parts of five seasons for the Vale City Crusaders and the Azmarin Silver Storm, correct?"

"That's my mom."

"She was part of Azmarin's world championship team..." Ozpin trailed off. "Never mind that. Go on. You have more to say?"

"Kind of…" An ache filled Ruby's chest as she pushed the next few words out of her mouth. "She died when I was pretty young."

Ozpin lowered his head. "My condolences. If this subject is uncomfortable for you, by no means should you continue to talk. I am already asking questions that are far too interrogative."

Ruby swallowed down a lump in her throat. "No, it's fine. I only have a few memories of her. But one of my best memories is this time that she told me that I should always do what makes me happy."

Ruby remembered that moment well. More than a decade ago, on a sun-drenched summer day, in the middle of a field, wildly swinging a baseball bat that looked comically large in her hands as her mother tossed pitch after pitch to her. Hitting a ball so high and so far that it seemed to vanish into the sky. Her mother, laughing as Ruby danced around the bases that they'd drawn into the ground, and then speaking words that she still took to heart- _Touch all the bases, Ruby. Make it count. You've earned it._  
The aftermath of that day, with Ruby tired but content in the backseat of their car as they drove home. Her mother asking,

 _Does baseball make you happy, Ruby?_

Yes. The answer was always yes.

 _Then don't ever stop doing what makes you happy._

That scene flashed through Ruby's mind as she spoke her next words to Ozpin. "And that's why I'm here. I'm doing what makes me happy. Playing baseball."

Ozpin exchanged a brief look with Goodwitch before he spoke again. "I understand that you graduate from Signal after this year. What are your plans for the future?"

"Oh, um…" Ruby shrugged. "I don't know. It was always about baseball for me, and now I guess this is the end of the line. Maybe if I had gone to a different school, then a Remnant Major League Baseball team might have noticed me. Guess I missed my chance. My sister didn't miss her chance, that's for sure. I've always wanted to play baseball with her. She's already pitching for your team, you know."

"Your sister?" Ozpin asked with surprise.

"Her name's Yang."

"Ah, Miss Xiao Long," he said mirthfully. "Extremely skilled, even if her attitude is a bit… bold. I remember, she mentioned to me once or twice that she had a sister that played baseball. Fancy the odds that I would run into you."

"Yeah, fancy that." Ruby glanced back and forth between Ozpin and Glynda. If there was a point to this talk, she wouldn't have minded getting to it right now.

"Glynda and I have spent the last two weeks scouting players up and down this corner of the continent. This game was a stop on the way back to Beacon. I came purely to relax and truly enjoy the game I love." He smiled slightly. "I should have guessed that it would be here that I would find someone better than anyone else I looked at."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Are you- talking about- about-"

 _Me_ was the word she wanted to say, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, for fear of monumental disappointment.

Ozpin's expression revealed nothing as he leaned forward. "Now, do you know who I am?"

That was an easy question. "You're Ozpin. The owner of the Beacon Hunters."

A slight smile crossed Ozpin's face, and he took a sip of his coffee before speaking. "That's what I was waiting for, Ruby Rose. Now, you want to play Remnant Major League Baseball?"

Ruby's heart sped up. "More than anything."

Ozpin glanced over at Glynda again. The woman stared at him, and after a moment, she nodded. The aged owner turned back to Ruby, a smile playing over his face, and he spoke two words that conveyed a message that Ruby had been hoping to hear for the entire conversation.

"Well, okay."

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

"Oh, I can't believe that my baby sister is going to be on the Hunters with me!" Yang squealed, enveloping Ruby in a bear hug.

"Please stop," Ruby muttered.

"But I'm so proud of you!" She tugged at Ruby's gray-and-red jersey. "Look, you're wearing our uniform and everything!"

Ruby pushed her car door shut and shouldered her equipment bag. "It's nothing. I haven't even made the team. All I did was get invited to spring training."

"But that's incredible!" Yang gushed. "If you make the Hunters, you'll be the youngest shortstop in the Vale League! And we'll be the first sister teammates in a decade! Come on, why are you moping around?"

Ruby sighed and looked around. "It's just… I guess I'm nervous."

"Hey, everyone gets nervous."

"But you're _good._ I'm new here. What if I don't play well? What if they cut me from the team because I did so badly? What if this is my only chance ever?"

"Don't worry, sis," Yang said, putting an arm around Ruby. "There's a reason that Ozpin signed you. We both know you have talent." Her expression turned serious. "Hey. I'll tell what happens if you don't do well, though. They won't release you. You'll go back to the minor leagues, where you played all last year, and you'll start kicking but again. Then you'll get called up to the big leagues in a few months. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm already proud of you, and there's nothing you can do to change that."

By that time, they had arrived at the edge of the parking lot, and a metal gate along the side was all that separated them from the field. Yang vaulted over it and gestured for Ruby to follow. "Come on. I'll introduce you to some of your teammates."

Ruby tapped into her semblance and hopped over the fence, not bothering to point out that these people weren't her teammates yet. There would be no stopping Yang now.

She surveyed the field. Beacon's spring training field, set on the warm southern coast of Vacuo along with twenty-nine other teams from the Vale and Vacuo leagues, was a sprawling compound, with what seemed like hundreds of players milling around on the grass. Most were stretching, jogging, or playing catch. A few were hitting off batting tees in one corner of the field. Some of them milled around in groups, and a few clipboard-toting coaches were scattered around. Ruby took it all in with unreserved amazement. This was the big leagues. She was _so close_ to realizing her dream.

Yang pulled Ruby towards the batting tees, practically bouncing with excitement. "Oh, Nora is going to love you!" she gushed.

"Wait. Nora? As in Nora _Valkyrie?"_ Ruby asked, not sure if she'd heard Yang right, because _holy_ _—_

"Yup! Now, no hero worship, she's going to be your teammate in a few weeks!"

Hero worship? Ruby wasn't a hero worshipper. She just got _really_ passionate about her favorite players.

"Nora!" Yang called, pulling her forward. Ruby didn't put up much resistance to being forcibly dragged, because it wasn't like she had to be forced to meet _Nora Valkyrie._

One of the players at the tees turned to face Yang, revealing a cheerful face framed by short orange hair, and Ruby almost forgot to breathe. She was just a few feet away from Nora Valkyrie. The starting left fielder for Beacon. Remnant's reigning home run champion for two years straight. The girl who won the Vale League Rookie Of The Year award two years ago, who hit home runs as easily as she breathed, the girl who'd won the Vale League MVP last season, and the girl who celebrated her frequent home runs with the enthusiastic rally cry of "NORA SMASH!"

And she was smiling at Ruby like they were old friends.

"Hey, Yang!" Nora said cheerily, giving Ruby's sister a high-five. "Long time no see!" She cocked her head at Ruby. "Is this the little sister you've told us so much about?"

Yang puffed up with pride. "This is Ruby, all right. Our team's best hope at shortstop. She's also a big fan of yours, so don't be surprised if she's a little tongue-tied."

"Hello!" Nora held out a hand to Ruby. "Nice to meet you!"

Ruby was a professional. She could do this. She could do this. "Hi," she managed, shaking Nora's hand. Good. She didn't stutter. She was too old to stutter anymore.

Nora looked over Ruby and winked. "Well, looks like Yang was right about you being a _short_ stop."

Ruby groaned. That one joke was enough to make her opinion of Nora drop a few notches, and suddenly the awkwardness was gone. "Thanks. I've only heard that joke about five million times."

"Now you've heard it five million and one times!" Nora said. "Hey, have you met Ren? Ren!" she called.

The batter at the tee next to Nora lifted his head. "Hm?"

Nora smacked Ruby's shoulder. Ruby fought down a wince; the girl was _strong._ "Ren, meet Ruby Rose! This is our new shortstop for this year!"

Ren _—_ who Ruby by now recognized as Beacon's starting first baseman _—_ glanced at Ruby. "Ah. Pleased to meet you. Yang has spent quite a lot of time talking about you. I'm Lie Ren."

"Nice to meet you," Ruby said, shooting Yang a glance. Just how much had her sister said about her already?

Yang put a hand on Ruby's arm. "Well, I hate to cut the introduction short, but I want to introduce Ruby to as many people as possible before Glynda starts the drills."

"No problem!" Nora said. "Good luck making the team, Ruby!" With that, she turned back to her tee, as did Ren.

"How many people did you tell about me?" Ruby hissed to Yang as they walked away.

"Well, to be honest, I told everyone," Yang admitted. "I was so proud when Ozpin signed you last year that it was all I could talk about for a few weeks. I told the team, the batboys and ballgirls, the training staff _—_ heck, even a few hot dog vendors outside the stadium. Showed everyone your minor league highlight reels, too."

Ruby groaned. "Great. Now everyone's going to think I'm special."

Yang stopped, placing her hands on Ruby's shoulders, and looked her dead in the eyes. "But you ARE special, Ruby. They're going to think you're the bee's knees!"

Ruby flushed and looked away. "I don't want to be the bee's knees, okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal baseball player with normal knees."

Yang rolled her eyes. "You're too adorable, sis. Something tells me that you're going to be anything but normal." Her eyes drifted to something over Ruby's shoulder. "Hey, there's Coco and Velvet!"

She grabbed Ruby's arm again and dragged her towards two people at another tee before Ruby could protest.

A rabbit faunus was at the tee, swinging a bat, while another girl sat on a bucket next to her, putting a baseball on the tee after each swing and occasionally throwing in words of advice.

 _Smack!_

"Your back foot came up a little bit there. Don't forget to keep it planted."

 _Smack!_

"Much better. Make sure that your hands don't roll over."

 _Smack!_

"Perfect."

"Hey Coco, Velvet," Yang said as they walked up.

The girl supplying the balls turned around, and Ruby's breath caught as she realized that she was looking at Coco Adel, Beacon's renowned closer. This was the girl who wore a ridiculously fashionable beret while pitching and could get away with it because of her record _—_ and the rabbit faunus could only be Velvet Scarlatina, the team's starting center fielder.

"Yang," Coco said, inclining her head. She lowered her sunglasses and gave Ruby a scrutinizing look. "Ruby Rose, I presume?"

Ruby gaped. "How do you know me?"

Coco smirked. "Yang made sure that your reputation precedes you." She gave a gentle elbow to the faunus. "This is Velvet, although I'm sure you've heard of her already."

Beacon's impossibly fast center fielder looked up and held out a hand. "Hi. I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina," she said quietly. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi." Ruby shook her hand with a brilliant smile. Velvet was something of a mystery. Her on-field play was flawless, but she had a habit of staying away from the press and the public eye. And now the mystical center fielder was talking to her. Ruby fully expected to wake up from this dream any moment now.

"I'll look forward to seeing you at shortstop on Opening Day," Coco said, putting another ball on Velvet's tee.

"Thanks." Ruby scratched the back of her neck. "I could still get cut from the team, though."

Coco scoffed. "Ruby, please. You're going to be our shortstop. Have you seen your competition for the job?"

"Not really…"

"Allow me to fill you in. It's some washed-up guy from the Vale City Crusaders who's got no business challenging you. I've been watching him. You're better than anything he's got."

"Oh, I know the guy," Yang added. "Trust me, you're not in any danger. He's weak. I punched him through the window of a nightclub once."

Ruby gawked at Yang. "Wait—my competition is the guy you put in the hospital with a broken rib last year?"

"Hey, hey." Yang held up her hands defensively. "He started it. All I did was escalate it."

"I remember that," Coco said. "You caused two thousand lien in damage that night."

"Junior and his crew had it coming."

"I'm not saying they didn't," said Coco. "I'm just questioning your methods of revenge."

"Should I be worried?" Ruby asked nervously. "What if he's got a grudge and tries to take revenge or something?"

Yang cracked her knuckles with a slow, deliberate motion, rippling the muscles across her brawny arms. "You don't need to worry. If _anyone_ lays a hand on you, I'll make sure that the next thing they touch is the cold hard ground of a shallow grave."

"Now, now. The last thing we need is our best pitcher getting arrested for murder. That won't help our playoff chances," Coco said mildly. She reached for another ball. "I'd like to get back to practicing with Velvet. But if you're looking for anyone else, I saw Yatsu and Fox over by the bullpen."

"Thanks. See you guys later." Yang pulled Ruby forward again and headed for the other side of the field. "Now, where are Fox and Yatsuhashi?" She shaded her eyes against the morning sun. "Oh, there, down at the end. Come on!"

Having long since resigned herself to Yang's eager introductions, Ruby followed without complaint. They passed by another pitcher's mound, where a blonde boy was warming up. Ruby didn't take much notice of him until he froze, mid-windup, and made a hideous gagging noise. A few moments later, he fell to his knees and vomited all over the mound.

Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, gross. Looks like someone had a bad breakfast. Who is that?"

Yang glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. "Beats me. Never seen him before. Hey! Fox! You got a minute?"

Further past the vomiting boy, two people were playing catch _—_ one was a copper-haired boy, and his imposing partner could have been the tallest person on the field. Ruby knew these two as well. The copper-haired one was Fox Alistair, the man just behind Coco in the Beacon bullpen's pecking order, and the giant was Yatsuhashi Daichi, Beacon's stone-faced starting catcher.

Fox looked over. "Hey, Yang! Sorry, not really."

"Just wanted to introduce you to my sister, that's all!"

"Tell her I'm Fox Alistair, setup man extraordinaire!"

Yang grinned. "Will do. See you around!"  
She leaned over to Ruby as they moved on. "Too bad. Fox is a cool guy. He's sort of like Coco, but Coco's better. As for Yatsuhashi, you didn't miss much. He wouldn't say anything that you couldn't already guess by looking at him." Yang looked around the field. "Hm… I don't know if there's anyone else worth introducing to you… we traded a lot of guys over the offseason… Got a lot of new blood coming in too, I guess I should get to know them, too _—_ and then there's the minor league call-ups. I wonder…"

While Yang mused, Ruby looked off to the right, and for the first time that day, she saw someone that she actually knew personally. That someone was a black-haired girl leaning against the fence and stretching. Blake Belladonna. They'd been on the same team for a few weeks last year in the minor leagues, and while they hadn't talked much, it was at least a familiar face.

"Well, I know her." Ruby pointed. "That's Blake. We were teammates last year. Have you met her?"

Yang turned to look and stopped, blinking. "Oh. I've never seen her before… Sis, why don't you go and find some other people to talk to? I'm going to go over and introduce myself to that lovely lady."

"I'll come with _—_ " Ruby started, only to realize that she was talking to nothing, because Yang was already sauntering up to Blake.

"So what am I supposed to do…?" She trailed off futilely. Hmmph. Fine. Yang was going to leave her all alone; she could deal with that. She wouldn't dare to introduce herself to anyone, though. The awkwardness of doing it alone would be too much. Especially since, even for all of Yang's reassurances, Ruby wasn't confident in her ability to make the team. If she tried to go around meeting everyone like some bigshot, that wouldn't go over very well if she was unceremoniously sent down to the minor leagues a week later. This still felt like an impossible dream. Just a year ago at this time, she was finishing her time at Signal and wondering if her dream of a baseball career was over. Ozpin had changed everything by taking her in the third round of the amateur draft. With that came the blizzard of news coverage, and everyone seemed to agree that Ozpin had made a massive blunder by using a valuable draft pick on a nobody player from a no-name school. Then came the year spent in the minor leagues and taking the baseball world by storm as she shot through the levels. The coverage whiplashed from 'mistake' to 'one of the best prospects in baseball' so fast it made her head spin.

 _Poised. Athletic. Incredible. First-class. Game-changing. Future superstar. The next Glynda Goodwitch._ These were all words being used to describe her, and Ruby didn't know what to think of it. From being a nobody, to this?

It had been a shock when she turned on the RMLB channel and saw herself on the screen for the first time. As time went on and she didn't stop hitting, the hype around her grew. People began clamoring for her autographs at minor league games. Opposing pitchers were afraid of her.

Now she was on the cusp of the _major leagues,_ the world of her childhood dreams, where all she had to worry about was the next pitch. And she was afraid. She was afraid of letting everybody down. What if she couldn't be good enough?

While in this cycle of morose thoughts, she'd put her bag down, gotten out her glove, and started tossing a ball against a wall. Walls made good partners for playing catch. Even if they weren't very mobile, they never missed anything.

Bounce _._ Toss. Bounce _._ Toss. Bou-

 _Thunk!_

"OW!"

Okay, scratch that. Walls were terrible partners for catch. They had no qualms about depositing an errant throw right in the face of someone who was walking by.

The girl that Ruby had just hit with a bad bounce off the wall was kneeling on the ground, clutching at her face, and Ruby feared the worst as she ran over. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry, are you okay? I didn't—"

The girl looked up, cradling a bruise on her cheek, and Ruby briefly forgot how to speak.

Everything about this girl reminded her of wintertime, from her long, snowy hair that was artfully tied up in an off-center ponytail to her eyes that were a deep, piercing icy blue to her flawless porcelain-white skin to the graceful point of her chin, and— The girl opened her mouth, and all of Ruby's awe suddenly came crashing down.

"What are you DOING?!" she screeched, stabbing an accusing finger at Ruby. "YOU COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY INJURED ME!"

"I'm- I'm- I'm-" Ruby stammered, trying unsuccessfully to push an apology out of her mouth.

"What sort of IDIOT throws a ball around while people are walking by?"

"I'm sorry!" Ruby said finally. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, and no thanks to you!" the girl snapped, getting up and brushing off her uniform. "What are you even _doing_ here? This is a major league camp!"

"Hey!" Ruby said. "I've got as much of a right to be on this field as you do!"

"Oh, really?" The white-haired girl scoffed. "You do realize that you're talking to the starting second basewoman for Beacon?"

"Well, you're talking to this team's future shortstop!" Ruby snapped.

"Shortstop—?" The girl looked Ruby up and down. "You're Ruby Rose? The top-ranked prospect in Beacon's system?"

"Yes!" Ruby said angrily. "And just who are you?!"

"Weiss Schnee!"

"Schnee…?" Ruby trailed off. "As in the Schnee Dust Company?" And finally, she put an identity to the furious girl. Weiss Schnee was infamous for her decision to follow a career in baseball against her father's wishes, which resulted in her being disowned from the Schnee lineage and losing her status as heiress to the SDC. Beacon had drafted her in the same round as Ruby Rose, and if anything, people were even more vocally against Weiss than they were against her, especially after she got a 50-game suspension last year for using performance-enhancing dust.

"The Schnee Dust—!" Weiss's face reddened. "There's more to me than just that company!"

With that, she stalked off, and a confused reply died on Ruby's lips. Great. She'd just pissed off a potential teammate and future double-play partner.

With a groan, she spun around and hurled the ball at the wall in frustration, only for it to rebound and smack her in the shin.

"YEOW!" She fell to the ground, clutching her leg, and for one alarming second, the pain didn't abate. A thousand scenarios flew threw her head, none of them good- a fracture, a break, a bone bruise _—_ and then the pain faded in a flow of Aura. She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, letting herself flop to the ground.

A shadow fell across her face, and a concerned voice spoke. "Hey, are you okay?"

Ruby looked up and was greeted with the sight of… Well, she didn't know his name, but... She squinted. "Aren't you Vomit Boy?"

Okay, she could've used a better conversation starter.

His face went bright red. "Hey! It could happen to anyone who's nervous! What if I called you Crater Face because of the crater you just put in that girl's face?"

Ruby jumped up onto to her feet. "You know… that's fair. I guess I should ask what your real name is."

"I'm Jaune Arc," he said, still carrying a note of indignation in his voice. "And you are?"

"My name's Ruby Rose. I'm a shortstop. You're a pitcher, right?"

"Yeah." Jaune shrugged. "I wanted to be a catcher, really. That's what I was at first. But they kept telling me that I would find more success as a pitcher. So I've been trying to pitch for the last year."

 _Trying?_ That didn't sound good at all. Ruby looked over him again. He was kind of stocky like a catcher, but nothing about him screamed _pitcher._ "Why did you become a pitcher?"

Jaune shrugged. "I've always thrown pretty hard, and management liked it enough to have me start pitching."

"Hm." Ruby nodded. "Were you in the minor leagues last year? I don't remember seeing you, though."

"I was on the Fencing… You know, that team. The one in Aberville."

"Ah." Ruby nodded. "That explains it. I skipped over that level."

"Oh, cool. Did you _—_ " Jaune was cut off by a voice echoing from the PA system.

"May I have your attention, please? May I have your attention, please? All players are to report to the pitcher's mound at Field One for a general introduction. I repeat, all players will report to the pitcher's mound at Field One immediately."

Ruby picked up her equipment bag. "Guess we should get moving. See you later!" With that, she activated her semblance, and moments later she was sprinting across the field in a blaze of rose petals.

* * *

Everyone was congregated at the mound, and Ruby was currently trying to push through the crowd so she could get to the front and actually _see_ what was going on. Being short had its downsides. Finally, by squeezing somewhat impolitely between two players, she managed to get to the front, where Glynda Goodwitch, clipboard in hand, was standing on the pitcher's mound with Ozpin and surveying the crowd.

"Attention, please," Glynda called.

The noise around them barely quieted. The esteemed manager's sigh was loud enough to reach Ruby's ears. Then she raised her clipboard, and to Ruby's astonishment, it transformed into a baseball bat, which Glynda hefted over her shoulder.

"ORDER!" she boomed. The silence was instantaneous.

Glynda glanced off to the left. "Miss Valkyrie, please save the pyrotechnics for when we are not all in a huddled mass." There was a hurried shuffling, followed by a heavy _thud._

She continued with, "And Miss Adel, if you wouldn't mind putting him down-"

A grumbled 'fine' went up from Ruby's left.

"Thank you. Now," Glynda began, satisfaction evident in her voice, "Greetings, everyone. Welcome to spring training. Before I do anything, the owner of this team has a few words to say."

A ripple of applause greeted Ozpin as he stepped forward, leaning on his cane. "Hello, everyone," he began. "I'll keep this brief." He sent a sweeping gaze around the crowd. "You all know who I am. I pay your salaries. Around me is a bounty of all types of professional baseball players. Some of Remnant's finest are amongst this crowd."

"But, as of right now, I see _nothing._ Your statistics in the past do not matter to me. Past results cannot predict future performance. When this team breaks camp, we will have pared the number of players down from seventy to just twenty-five. Not all of you will make this team. That is a mathematical certainty. However, I want you to make my decision to cut you as difficult as possible. And I assure you, we will be watching every one of you very closely."

It was at those last few words that Ozpin's searching eyes briefly met Ruby's.

"Now, I understand that the team has been changed in quite a few ways during the offseason," Ozpin continued. "There are many, many new faces in this crowd _—_ whether brought in by trade, called up from the minors, signed as a free agent, or otherwise. Quite a few of you do not know each other at all. Glynda and I have come up with a plan that we believe will help to breed familiarity within the team." He produced his scroll from his pocket and opened it. "Each of you has been assigned a partner. For the first few weeks of spring training, you will share a hotel room with your partner and one other pair. You and your partner are expected to act as a support system for one another."

At this revelation, a murmur spread through the crowd. Ruby shifted nervously. Partners?

"The partners have been selected by a process in which we carefully weighed the personalities of each and every member of the team and found a suitable match. I will now read off the list of partnerships. Please listen carefully for your name." He cleared his throat. "Russel Thrush and Roche LaDrake. Fox Alistair and _—_ "

Ruby tuned out Ozpin's voice as she glanced anxiously around the field. Who was going to be her partner? She desperately wanted to end up with Yang, but—

"Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna."

Well, then. Ruby heard Yang whoop loudly from her left. At least Yang was happy about that pairing. Who else was there? It would be cool if it was Jaune. He seemed nice enough. Then there were the ones she'd just met _—_ Nora, Ren, Coco, Velvet, Fox. They all seemed like nice people, and being partners with them certainly wouldn't be the worst outcome. Unfortunately, it was pretty unlikely, due to the fact that they were all-stars and she was nothing but a rookie shortstop.

"Ruby Rose," Ozpin started, and Ruby stood ramrod straight, listening intently for the second part of the statement.

"...and Weiss Schnee."

Wait, WHAT?!

Why was the universe conspiring against her in this way?! She just _had_ to be partnered with the _one_ person on the team who was mad at her, didn't she?

A search through the crowd showed that Weiss looked just as dismayed, which bothered Ruby. What right did _Weiss_ have to be disappointed? Ruby hadn't done anything except accidentally hit her with a ball. Weiss was the one who'd had a meltdown and screamed at her. If anything, Weiss should be _happy_ to have her as a partner!

Resigned, she made her way through the crowd to Weiss, who was watching her with a mixture of consternation and disgust. Mostly disgust.

"So…" Ruby said slowly. "I guess we're partners?"

Weiss's glare could've frozen a full-grown Ursa. "It seems so."

Just how carefully had Ozpin thought out these partnerships?

"Attention!" Glynda barked, breaking up the awkward moment. All noise around died off as Ruby turned to listen again.

"I want everyone to take a moment to play catch with your partner. Grab a baseball and loosen up your arm. In ten minutes, we'll reconvene and break into groups based on your positions."

"I'll get a ball!" Ruby whirled around, only to run smack into what felt like a brick wall. Then, at second glance, she realized that it was actually a person.

"I'm sorry! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, thanks…" Ruby looked up. And then she looked up some more. Finally, she made eye contact with the speaker: a powerfully built redhead who gave Yatsuhashi a run for the money in the size department. This could only be the singular and indomitable Pyrrha Nikos. The two-time MVP of the Mistral League. Traded to Beacon in the offseason for a king's ransom of prospects. And powerfully built did not even _begin_ to describe her.

Ruby was _trying_ not to stare, but… it was distracting. Pyrrha's shoulders were big enough to get their own CCT.

Pyrrha's voice drew Ruby out of her stupor. "Are you sure you're all right? You seem a little… dazed."

Ruby blinked. "No, no, I'm fine, really. Don't worry."

"Thank goodness." Pyrrha bent down and pulled a baseball from the bucket next to her. "Need a ball?"

"Yeah, thanks." Ruby turned to go find Weiss, but stopped as she realized that the snow-haired girl was right next to her, looking inquisitively at Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, do you have a partner?" Weiss asked.

A tinge of jealousy shot through Ruby at the eager undertone in Weiss's voice. What, was she not good enough?

"Actually, yes. He's _—_ "

At that moment, Jaune came up beside Pyrrha. "Hey, where do you want to throw?"

Weiss stared at Jaune with astonishment. "YOU'RE her partner?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you know who your partner is?"

"Yeah. Her name's Pyrrha, right? I thought your name was Pyrrha," he said uncertainly.

Pyrrha gave him an encouraging smile. "That's right."

"No, you dunce!" Weiss snapped. "Do you know _who_ she is?"

"Should I?" Jaune responded.

"YES! She won the Mistral League Rookie Of The Year Award two years ago!"

Jaune shrugged. "Good for her."

"She went to the World Series with the Sanctum Paladins that same year!"

Jaune shook his head. "Don't remember that series."

"Last year, she had the highest single-season batting average in fifteen years!"

"That's cool."

Weiss looked fit to burst now. "GOOD GRIEF! Have you ever seen her on a box of Pumpkin Pete's cereal?!"

For the first time, a shred of recognition dawned on Jaune's face. "Ohh… yeah! Hey, I do remember seeing you on the box once!"

"GAH!" Weiss threw up her hands. "Pyrrha, you're okay being partners with this… this… minor league mop-up man?"

"Hey!" Jaune said angrily.

"Of course I am," Pyrrha said. "I trust Ozpin and Glynda's reasoning. Do you?"

Weiss opened her mouth, appearing to be on the verge of a snappy rebuttal until she abruptly closed it, a red tinge spreading across her cheeks.

"Come on, Ruby. Let's throw." With that, she walked away, not waiting for an answer.

Ruby gave Pyrrha and Jaune an apologetic glance before following after her partner.

* * *

"So," Ruby said after a few minutes of playing catch in pointed silence. "We really started off on the wrong foot, didn't we?"

There was no response from Weiss except to throw the ball.

Ruby caught it and returned the toss. "I'm really sorry for throwing that baseball in your face earlier."

Silence. Another throw.

"I'm just glad that you're okay. I would've felt terrible if I hurt you."

No reply.

"I'm on your side, Weiss. I really am. I want to be friends with you. Come on, if we both do well enough, we'll be right next to each other on the baseball field on Opening Day! Wouldn't that be great?"

Nothing.

"Okay… What I'm trying to say is that I want to try again. Let's pretend like I didn't ACCIDENTALLY throw a baseball in your face. Let's pretend like this is the first time we've met."

Still nothing. Weiss's lack of responses was starting to unnerve Ruby.

"So, what do you say? Friends, maybe? At least not enemies?"

Finally, Weiss did something other than stare silently. She pocketed the ball and walked slowly up to Ruby, still as expressionless as before.

"…Weiss?" Ruby asked.

Weiss was standing directly in front of her now, and seemed to be wrestling with some internal decision as she studied Ruby. At last, she opened her mouth.

"All right," she said.

Ruby blinked. "Eh?"

"Let's try again. I admit that I may have treated you unfairly during our unfortunate first meeting. It certainly wouldn't be good for me to make an enemy on the first day of spring training. Maybe I judged you unfairly. After all, you aren't Beacon's top prospect for nothing."

Ruby brightened. "You mean all this? You really want to start over?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, I do. Don't mess up this time."

"Oh, you bet," Ruby said happily. "I'm going to be the best thing that's ever happened to you!"


	2. Of Batting Practices And Bullpens

**A/N: Chapter two! Enjoy! I'm always looking for feedback on how I'm writing, so I would love it if you left a review and told me what you thought! Happy reading, and a big thank you to all the people who left a review on chapter one. I'm excited about this story.**

 **The Vale Daily News**

 ** _Spring Training Report_**

 _It's been one day. One day._

 _And already, we've got high drama in the Beacon Hunters' spring training. A candidate for the starting rotation threw up on the field. The team's top prospect hit the projected second baseman in the face with a ball, and they proceeded to get into a screaming match. This team can make a dumpster fire look calm and orderly._

 _Were there any bright sides? Well, the-_

WHAM.

Ruby looked up from the article on her scroll as the door to the hotel room was thrown open and Yang ran in. She dropped a pile of suitcases on the floor and doubled over, breathing so rapidly that she looked to be on the verge of passing out.

"Yang!" Ruby jumped off her bed and rushed to Yang's side. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Between gasps, Yang pushed out an explanation. "Ran… up… eighteen… flights… of stairs… nonstop… to get here… before Blake."

"What?" Ruby stared at her. "Why?"

"Offered to… carry her bags… she declined… took the elevator… I had to prove that… I'm better than a stinkin' elevator…"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Nice job. I don't think anyone will be impressed by that."

"It was more about defending my pride. Anyway, I needed the exercise." Yang grinned and straightened up. "But forget that. We're going to be roommates for the next month! Can you believe it?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah."

Ozpin had made another attempt at promoting team bonding by having the players share hotel rooms- four players per room. Luckily for Ruby, Yang and Blake were sharing the room with her and Weiss.

Suddenly, a dreadful thought occurred to her. After one day of interacting with Weiss Schnee, she was reasonably sure that forcing someone as uptight and closed off as Weiss to be in close quarters with _Yang_ for a day, let alone a MONTH, would do the exact opposite of making them friends. It could only end in disaster, injury, and worst of all, embarrassing headlines.

Yang pushed her suitcases to the wall and surveyed the room. "So who's your partner? I didn't hear anything Glynda said after she called my name- I was too busy talking to Blake."

"Well, uhh…" Ruby faltered. "She's… she's, um-"

Yang pointed at the small stack of Weiss's luggage. "Is that her stuff? She won't mind if I move it, will she?"

"Uh, I don't think so."

"Great." Yang picked up one of Weiss's suitcases and started to carry it across the room to the other bunk bed. "Huh," she said thoughtfully, turning the suitcase over in her hands. "Looks like this bag had a Schnee Dust Company logo on it, but somebody painted over it." She traced a shape on the bag. "Look, you can still see the outline of the snowflake."

Ruby laughed nervously. "Ah- that's weird!"

At that moment, Blake Belladonna entered the room, momentarily preventing Yang from connecting the dots.

"Hey," Blake said, setting her suitcases against the wall.

Yang spun around. "I could've gotten your bags here faster," she said immediately.

Blake looked at her with faint amusement. "Yes, you could've. But you can't carry me with you, so it doesn't change how long it would take me to get here."

"True," Yang conceded

"Nice to see you again, Blake," Ruby said, holding out her hand. "Congratulations on getting the invite to spring training!"

"Thank you," Blake said, shaking Ruby's hand. "But you deserve to be here more than I do."

Ruby blushed. "Oh, don't say that…"

"I enjoyed being teammates with you last year. Let's hope we can be teammates again in the major leagues."

"Oh

Yang cut in. "So, Ruby, you've met my partner. When do I get to meet yours?"

"Well…" Ruby hedged. "We didn't exactly get off to the best start. I hit her in the face with a baseball. And then we yelled at each other. But we made up, so I think we're cool!"

Yang grinned. "Sounds like a nice person. So, who is she?"

The door opened again, and Weiss walked in. "Ruby, did you see my scroll anywhere-" She stopped as she noticed Yang and Blake. "Oh. Hello."

Yang stared at Weiss with an expression half-disbelieving and half-disgusted. "You're kidding me. You got the Ice Queen as your partner?"

Weiss glared at Yang. "Could not call me that? I resent that nickname."

"Well, if you want people to stop calling you that, maybe you should stop being so frosty to everyone, _Weiss."_

Weiss's glare really was icy as she glared at Yang.

"Nice to meet you, too," Yang said, her words clearly not sincere. "The name's Yang Xiao Long." Aside from the introduction, she made no friendly gestures- not even a proffered hand.

"Weiss Schnee," Weiss said, displaying equal coolness. Then she turned to Blake. "I don't believe I've met you before?"

"I'm Blake Belladonna," Blake said slowly, also choosing not to offer a hand. If anything, her body language was even less welcoming.

An uncomfortable silence fell as both Yang and Blake refused to meet Weiss's eyes. Ruby decided to take charge and help out her teammate.

"Okay!" she said. "You guys may not… have the best impressions of Weiss, but could we all keep an open mind? We're supposed to be teammates, after all. I already made a truce with Weiss… So if you guys could agree to get along, that would be great!"

Yangs looked from Weiss to Ruby to Weiss again, and then back to Ruby. Finally, she crossed her arms and spoke. "We can get along for now, but I've got two words for you, Schnee."

"What's that?"

A bead of sweat formed on the back of Ruby's neck as Yang opened her mouth to reply. _Don't tell her to fuck off, don't tell her to fuck off, don't tell her to fuck off,_ she pleaded silently.

"Prove yourself," Yang said bluntly.

Even though the conflict was anything but resolved, Ruby sighed with relief. An uneasy ceasefire was better than open war.

* * *

 **The next day**

"I was surprised by how early you were up."

"What?" Ruby glanced at Weiss while squinting against the early-morning sun, which had barely begun warming the dew-smeared grass on the fields that they were walking towards.

"I mean, you don't strike me as the type to get up very early," Weiss clarified. "We don't have to be out here for another hour."

Ruby stifled a yawn. "Oh, this is nothing. I always get up early for baseball. It's never been any other way." She tossed a look at Weiss. "You don't look like an early riser either, you know."

Weiss sighed. "People tend to underestimate how hard I work."

"Oh."

"But never mind that." By now, they'd reached the gate to the field, and Weiss pushed it open and walked in before turning to look at Ruby. "Do you know where-"

 _Crack._

Ruby looked up at the sound, and her eyes widened as she noticed that Weiss was standing _right in the path of a-_

She kicked her semblance into action and lunged forward, barreling into Weiss.

"Wha-HEY!" Weiss yelped as Ruby pulled her to the ground.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" she screamed, trying to push Ruby off. "YOU COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY INJURED-"

 _Plonk._

Weiss stopped, blinking, as a baseball landed in the spot where she'd been standing a few minutes ago. Ruby watched it bounce away from them before turning back to Weiss and offering a hand.

"Sorry," she asked. "That fly ball was going to hit you. There wasn't time to warn you, so I just tried to push you of the way. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Weiss said faintly, getting up. "Thanks…" she muttered, brushing herself off. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I thought you were just horsing around."

"It's fine," Ruby said.

"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?"

Ruby looked up to see a frantically waving figure at home plate- Nora, she realized, who must have been taking some early-morning batting practice. Ren was there too, on the pitcher's mound.

Ruby gave her a thumbs-up. "We're fine!"

"Sorry about that! I didn't see you until after I hit it!" Nora replied. "Can you move? I want to keep hitting!"

"Sure." Ruby pulled Weiss over into foul territory and they kept moving, keeping a watchful eye on Nora the whole time.

As they drew closer to home plate, they could hear the powerhouse chattering at Ren between swings.

"So I asked my mother if I'd left my lucky bat at her house and-"

 _Whack._ A ball went flying to deep left field and cleared the fence by a good margin.

"-my mother asked if it was black one with green stripes on the barrel-"

On the next hit, the ball went rocketing out to dead center field and hit the wall on one bounce.

"-and I told her 'of course!' and she went all silent for a while-"

This hit was down the right field line, and like its left-field counterpart, it flew over the fence with ease.

Nora stepped out of the batter's box and fiddled with her batting gloves as Ruby and Weiss came up behind home plate. "-and that's how I found out that my lucky bat is now a chair leg. Had to get a new one made. I like it already, though. It's got a name." She thrust the bat- which was silver with with pink hearts all up and down the barrel- into the air. "Meet Magnhild!"

"Cool!" Ruby gushed. "Is it as good as your old one?"

Nora lowered the bat and frowned, turning it over in her hand. "Not yet. That second to last hit should've been out of here. I'll need to keep Magnhild over the radiator for a few more weeks at the very least."

Ruby blinked. "On a radiator? Why would you do that?"

Weiss sniffed. "That's just superstition, isn't it? I don't put any stock in those sort of things."

"Hey, it's scientifically proven!" Nora said. "You can't be in a slump when you're literally swinging a hot bat!" She finished straightening her gloves and stepped back up to the plate. "Throw me a few more, Ren! Magnhild needs to prove itself!"

"Actually, Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Ren, I'll need both of you to stop. I need the mound for a few minutes."

That was Glynda, coming up behind them with her clipboard in one hand and a radar gun in the other. Jaune and someone else decked out in catching gear trailed behind her; Ruby thought it was Yatsuhashi until she noticed Pyrrha's flowing red hair coming out from behind the mask.

Nora looked up with surprise. "Sure! Why?"

Glynda hefted the radar gun. "I need to observe Mr. Arc's throwing session. It will only be a few minutes, so please feel free to wait to continue."

"I'll watch," Nora said, moving over to Ruby's side. "This should be interesting," she muttered. "I've never seen this guy pitch before. Wasn't he a catcher or something?"

"That's what he told me," Ruby replied.

"Nora, I need a hand putting these away," Ren said, coming up to them with a bucket full of baseballs in each hand.

"Sure!" Nora took one of the buckets from Ren. "We'll be back in a sec," she said to Ruby.

Ruby and Weiss were left alone to watch Jaune warm up.

A few minutes later, after one particularly low pitch from Jaune bounced in front of the plate and skittered past Pyrrha to the backstop, Weiss sniffed. "Personally, I don't know what the fuss is about Arc," she said, only just keeping her voice low enough that Glynda wouldn't hear. "Just because his father is in the Baseball Hall Of Fame shouldn't mean anything. It's practically nepotism."

"Nepotism! Oho, that's rich, coming from the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!"

The new voice was one that Ruby completely failed to recognize. She turned around and was greeted with the sight of Cardin Winchester- the team's new starting pitcher, signed as a free agent during the offseason. She took an instinct dislike to his smug expression.

"I-!" Weiss's face suddenly went scarlet red. "If you've followed the news at all in the last year, you know that that's not true anymore!"

"True, true." Winchester's voice dripped with false demureness. "I forgot that Papa Schnee got tired of supporting your fun. Let's see how far you get now that your father's not backing you with his money and power."

"YOU-" Now Weiss looked like she was about to explode. Ruby stepped in to try and defuse the situation and help her teammate.

"You can't just say those things about your own teammate!" she snapped. "What's your problem, anyway?! What did Weiss ever do to you?"

"Hey now-" Winchester frowned at Ruby. "You're Ruby Rose, aren't you?"

"Yes, and what's it to you?"

Winchester attempted a serious expression that almost suggested he was disclosing a useful secret to her. "Rose, you're going to find out pretty quickly that there a lot of other people on the team who feel the same way about Schnee as I do. Maybe even Goodwitch. Getting a suspension for performance-enhancing dust isn't going to make many friends around here. So you should be careful about whom you support. You've got a great career ahead of you. Everyone can see that. Don't let the wrong people ruin it." He tipped his cap. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go take some fielding drills." And with that, he sauntered away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Ruby turned to Weiss, fuming.

"WHO GAVE HIM THE RIGHT?!" she growled. "What an arrogant bastard! Why do people like _him_ have to be good at baseball?"

Weiss looked surprisingly hurt for someone that was supposed to be so impassive. Ruby went on, hoping to make her partner feel better.

"I don't believe a word of what he said, either. You seem like a nice person, Weiss. At least once you get past the ten layers of coldness and snark."

Unfortunately, the attempt at humor fell flat. If anything, Weiss looked even more miserable now.

The awkwardness situation was halted when Nora and Ren came back up to them.

Nora wrinkled her nose. "Was that Cardin Winchester? Is he as much of a jerk as people say he is?"

"Yup." Ruby sent one last glare at Winchester's distant form. "I don't like him already."

Nora nodded. "He sat next to me on the bench for like three innings at the All-Star Game last year. He literally wouldn't stop talking about how great he was, and I just wanted him to _shut up_ the entire time."

"Quiet, please," Glynda said, sending a look at Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Ren. "We're about to start."

When they'd fallen silent, she turned on the radar gun and aimed it at the mound. "Mr. Arc, whenever you're ready."

Jaune nodded. He stared down at Pyrrha, took a deep breath, and reared back to throw.

 _Whump._

Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Ren blinked in synchronization. It wasn't until Ruby saw Pyrrha throwing the ball back to Jaune that she realized that he'd actually thrown a pitch. One moment, it had been in his hand, and then the next moment, it just _wasn't._

Nora cleared her throat. "Coach… You got a reading on that pitch?"

Glynda tilted the radar gun towards them.

102 miles per hour.

"Dust," Ruby whispered, staring at the number. "That's… really fast."

"Please continue, Mr. Arc," Glynda called.

 _Whump._

If anything, the next pitch looked even faster than the first, and that was confirmed when Ruby saw the new number on the radar gun. 105 miles per hour.

"Dust on a cracker," Nora muttered in awed tone. "I've never seen anyone throw higher than 101."

"The fastest pitch on record's 106. A reliever in the Atlesian league did it a few years ago," Ren noted.

"Think he can hit that?"

Ruby watched Jaune burn in another fastball. "I'll bet ten lien he hits a hundred and _seven."_

"How can he _do_ this?" Weiss burst out. "No one's ever heard of him!"

Glynda looked over with a dry smile. "As I've told many others, Miss Schnee, you should have acquired a copy of Mr. Arc's scouting report before you voiced your skepticism of him."

Nora lifted her bat onto her shoulder as Weiss went red with mortification. "All right, enough of this. Ren, give me your helmet. I'm going to hit against this guy."

"Miss Valkyrie, I wouldn't advise-" Glynda sighed as Nora marched up to the plate. "You understand that this is exactly the sort of risky behavior that would get your contract voided if you got injured right now, right?"

Nora stepped into the batter's box and straightened her helmet, flashing a brilliant smile at Glynda. "Who cares about millions of lien when I have the chance to hit against a once-in-a-generation fastball?"

"Gotta agree with that," Ruby said softly, while Weiss looked at her like she had two heads.

"Financial security should _always_ come first. It's incredibly-" Weiss started, but Ruby shushed her.

"Shhhh, I want to see this."

As Nora dug in, Jaune looked nervously at Glynda for approval and got ready to pitch, suddenly looking much less confident.

The first pitch came whizzing in five feet away from Nora.

"Settle down, Jaune," Glynda called.

After taking a deep breath, Jaune tried again. The second pitch didn't miss outside. Unfortunately, it missed by the five feet in the _other_ direction, going _behind_ Nora. Then the third pitch managed to not be wildly off to the left or the right, but it also bounced in the dirt three feet in front of home plate. By the time that the fourth pitch sailed so high that even a leaping Pyrrha couldn't snag it, Nora was losing patience.

"I haven't even taken my bat off my shoulder yet, Arc," she complained loudly. "How about throwing some strikes?"

"Um," Jaune said, stopping. He smiled sheepishly. "I can… try?"

Silence greeted this as Ruby stared at Jaune, wondering if he actually wasn't joking.

"And that," Weiss said quietly, "Is why we haven't heard of him until now."

* * *

Ruby narrowed her eyes in concentration. Repeated flicks of her wrist sent the baseball in her hand up to the ceiling, where it would just barely graze the top and fall back towards her,her hand being the only thing stopping the ball from landing on her face as she lay on her bunk. It was a dangerous game. The bruise on her nose told as much.

To her left, Yang was on the phone.

"Uh-huh. Two large pizzas. One with cheese. One with pepperoni. We'll get a medium order of wings as a side. Yes, buffalo dipping sauce with the wings, please. No, that'll be-"

Weiss piped up. "I'd like a salad, too."

Ruby could almost hear Yang rolling her eyes before she continued on the phone.

"Actually, add a salad to that order. Yeah, that'll be all. I'd like it delivered to room 1820 of the Sunset Plaza Hotel."

There was a pause, and then Yang spoke with a sigh. _"Yes,_ that's where the Beacon Hunters are staying. _No,_ I won't tell you who I am. But I _will_ give an autograph as a tip. Yeah, that's all. Thanks. Have a good night."

Yang hung up and flopped down on her bunk. "Great idea to order pizza, Rubes. I can barely move. The first full day of spring training is always _so_ much fun."

"Tired?" Ruby asked.

"Very," Yang groaned. "I had to field bunts for three hours. What'd you guys do?"

Ruby stopped tossing the baseball up and down and rolled over to better see Yang. "Batting practice. Lots of it," she answered.

"Lucky. Us pitchers don't get to take batting practice for another two weeks. Position players have it so easy. In fact-" she sat up, a devilish smile on her face- "You guys have it so easy, I think you should pay for the pizza. You feel like paying for it all, Weiss? Pull out that Schnee bankroll, huh?"

"Why- just because I'm a Schnee doesn't mean have access to the family's unlimited riches!'" Weiss snapped. "I'm still living off my minor league salary! You and your five-year, one-hundred-and-twenty-million-lien contract extension would be better fit to paying this, Xiao Long!"

Yang looked taken aback by the venom in Weiss's reaction. "Easy there, Schnee. I didn't mean to hit a nerve. Sorry."

Ruby had a sudden flashback to their run-in with Winchester earlier that day, and she immediately jumped in to help Weiss. "Let's split the bill four ways. It's only fair."

"I agree with Ruby."

Blake spoke those words, coming out of the bathroom in pajamas with a black bow perched on her head.

"It's settled, then!" Ruby said hastily, hoping to avoid further friction between Yang and Weiss.

Fortunately, Yang didn't pursue the subject of payment any further. Instead, she looked up at Blake and grinned. "Hey, Blake, I dig the bow!" she said. "It, um, goes great with your… pajamas."

Blake gave a tight smile as she climbed up onto her bunk. "Thank you."

"Thought you were going to fall asleep in your baseball cap, you wore it for so long. I wouldn't blame you for it. Ruby used to do it all the time when she was little."

"Yaaaang!" groaned Ruby. "Don't go around telling other people about my private life!"

"That's nice," Blake said blandly. She retrieved a book from under her pillow and started to read. The conversation, already waning, came to an end. After a few silent moments, Yang pulled out her scroll and started playing a game on it. Meanwhile, Weiss was already looking at her scroll.

After playing with the baseball in her hand for a few minutes, a botched catch caused the ball to bounce out of her hands and onto the floor. Getting it was out of the question, because that would mean _getting up_ and _moving_ from this infinitely comfortable bed… When she looked around for her scroll, she realized with a twinge of disappointment that it was on top of her suitcase on the other side of room. She _could_ just go get it, but it wasn't worth the sacrifice either. There would need to be more important things at stake to get her to move right now. Like the fate of the world. Or food. Speaking of food…

"Yang, do you know when the pizza will get here?" she asked.

"The place is right next door. They said they'd have it here in fifteen minutes. That was, uh, ten minutes ago."

Ruby let out a frustrated groan. Five minutes never seemed so long. Okay. Her scroll was out of the question, and she had to keep herself occupied _somehow_ until the food got here.

Then a brilliant way of killing two Nevermores with one stone occurred to her: Start a friendly conversation. It would stave off boredom and hopefully help a certain few teammates get along. She had the perfect question in mind, too.

"How do you guys think we'll do this season?"

After a few contemplative seconds, Yang spoke. "Well, if I'm gonna be honest about our own chances… We would have to get pretty lucky. We lack depth. After me and Cardin Winchester, there's nobody in the starting rotation who's going to scare anybody. It's the same thing in the bullpen. We've got Coco and Fox, and then there's nothing. I wouldn't trust Russel, Sky, or Dove with any lead less than ten runs. Sure, our biggest strength is our lineup, where we've got Nora, Pyrrha, and Velvet, but even then there's a pretty big drop-off after them. No offense to you, sis. You and Weiss are just in the same boat."

"What's wrong with us?" Weiss asked with indignation.

"You guys haven't seen a single pitch in the major leagues yet. It'll be a lot harder than anything in the minors."

"Yeah."

"So don't get arrogant, Schnee," Yang said. "Plenty of people who were better than you have gotten off to terrible starts."

"Hey!"

"Wait," Ruby said, cutting in to stop a fight before it started. "Blake, you're a rookie, too! It's funny, you haven't gotten nearly as much attention as me and Weiss."

"It's true. I've flown under the radar for a long time. I prefer to stay out of the public eye," Blake said, not looking up from her book. "I don't like the attention."

"Well, you sure picked the wrong career if you _don't_ want to get noticed," Yang said. "This is Major League Baseball! Every game we play is televised all over the world. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of people watch our games every day, and our names and faces are all over everything! Baseball cards, billboards, commercials- we're world-famous just because we can do things with a little white ball that other people can't do. Hell, I can't walk down a street in Vale without getting recognized."

"I'm well aware of the amount of attention we're going to get," Blake said, her voice flat.

"So then why do you play?" Yang asked. "You've got to have a good reason."

"For me, it was an escape." Blake put her book down and looked directly at Yang. "An escape from unsavory circumstances in my life. Now I can't imagine doing anything else."

Blake's sudden declaration was met with shocked silence from Yang, who looked mortified at the sensitive information she'd just pried loose.

"Oh. Dust. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to force you to say that. I'm sorry."

Blake sighed. "It's fine. I suppose people were eventually going to start asking. I'll have to get used to saying that."

"Blake. Those, um, 'unsavory circumstances.' Are you okay now?"

"I'm fine, Yang. Thank you."

Ruby sat up, making eye contact with Blake. "Is there anything else we should know?"

"No, really. I've put my past behind me." Blake's tone made it clear that this would be as far as she would go on this topic.

Ruby shifted, still concerned. "Okay. If… If you need any help, ask us."

At that moment, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Ruby sat up excitedly. "Pizza's here!"

"Oh, thank goodness," Weiss said, getting up. "I'm famished."

"Everyone got cash?" Yang asked, standing up. "We're still splitting the bill four ways. 11.50 lien each, tip included."

"I've got mine," Blake said, reaching under her bunk.

"Same."

"Here."

Yang collected everybody's money and went to the door to collect their food, while Weiss retrieved a roll of paper towels and some paper plates from the kitchenette.

"Here," she said, tossing the paper towels to Ruby. "We'll use these as napkins."

"Sustenance!" Yang sang out, setting the pizza boxes down on the floor between the bunk beds. "There's wings, too, for anyone who wants those. Got your salad, Weiss."

"Thanks," Weiss said, taking the salad. The four of them sat on the floor around the food, their mouths watering.

"Yang?" Ruby asked, reaching for a slice of pepperoni. "Did the delivery person ask for an autograph?"

Yang smirked. "Nope. She was a Firebirds fan. Said she'd rather eat her shoe than have my autograph. I told her I didn't blame her- I'd do the same to avoid an autograph from someone on the Firebirds."

They all laughed at that- even Weiss. Blake looked relaxed again. All tension had disappeared with the arrival of the pizza, and as they dug in, Ruby decided that there was no better uniting force in the world than good food.

 **A/N: I've been watching Volume 4 and I'm YELLING. Look to see some of the new V4 characters in this story somewhere.**


	3. Races

"Listen closely, now! Baserunning is one of the most important components of baseball! Smart baserunning is what separates the merely good teams from the _best_ teams!"

The entire Beacon Hunters spring training squad was gathered on the field for a lecture on baserunning, as Bartholomew Oobleck, the third base coach, paced back and forth in front of them while Peter Port, the first base coach, stood next to him.

After losing Weiss somewhere in the large crowd, Ruby found herself standing next to Yang as she listened.

"Some of you may be wondering why I have asked _all_ of the players, including pitchers, to be present at this instruction," Oobleck said. "Surely, pitchers don't need to learn the finer arts of baserunning since they rarely get a chance to hit?" He paused, intensely surveyed the players for a moment, and continued on.

"Well, my answer to that is, even if you only get on base _once_ in an entire season, _you must make that one chance count!_ What if you found yourself on first base in the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie game and two outs but with no idea of how big your lead off first base should be?" Oobleck paused to push his glasses up his nose and continued, "I am here to make sure that all of you know _exactly_ what to do in _every_ situation you may encounter on the basepaths!" He came to a stop at first base. "Before anything else, we must discuss what comes first- _first,_ heh, heh- namely, taking a lead off first base and preparing to run." He nodded to Port. "And here I will yield to my distinguished colleague, as this is his area of expertise."

"Yes, thank you, Bartholomew." Port stepped forward. "First base is where it all starts, my friends," he boomed, gesturing grandly. "Here, one bad step can result in ignominious defeat. Why, I remember that chilly night, thirty-one years ago, in Game Four of the World Series, when the great Evergreen Arc himself was picked off at first base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. It was a matter of millimeters, that play, and I should know- I was the first baseman that night, after all! Arc was fast, but my tag was faster. I remember the… blah blah blah…"

Yang groaned. "Here we go. Once Port gets going on one of his stories, there's no stopping him." She turned to Ruby. "Don't get me wrong, he's a good coach when he tells us stuff we actually need to know. But don't bother listening now. You won't learn much. Guess this is as good as ever to ask you something, sis."

Ruby turned her attention from Port to Yang. "Yeah?"

"How do you get along with Weiss?"

Ruby frowned. "What do you mean?"

Yang shrugged. "I'm curious, that's all. She's supposed to be all being closed off and untouchable. But you got on her good side. She doesn't snap at you. You can hold a friendly conversation with her. I think she actually enjoy spending time with you a little."

"You just have to give her a chance, Yang."

"But still, _how?"_

"I played catch with her."

"Plenty of people have played catch with her!"

"Did anyone ever try being nice to her _while_ playing catch?"

Yang stared at Ruby with an incredulous look for several long seconds before shaking her head. "Only you, my sweet little sis, could manage this," she muttered in admiration. "Getting on the good side of Weiss freaking Schnee by playing catch. Never change, Rubes. Never change."

"It's _not_ hard," Ruby repeated, resisting a childish urge to stomp her foot.

Yang shrugged. "Maybe it isn't."

A sudden silence signaled the end of Port's story, and they turned their attention back to the coaches.

"Now, before we do anything else, I'd like to take a few minutes to carry on a tradition. We do this every year," Oobleck said.

"Oh, yes," Yang whispered, her tone changing entirely. "You're going to like this, Ruby."

"Racing!" Oobleck said dramatically. "Who thinks they're the fastest person on this team?"

Ruby perked up.

"For those of you who are new, we hold a little competition every spring to see who the fastest person on this team is. Our champion for the last two years has been Miss Scarlatina, as many of you know. However, I believe we may have a challenger this year." He scanned the crowd, and his eyes landed on Ruby.

"Miss Rose! You led the minor leagues in stolen bases last year with seventy-six, correct?"

"Seventy-seven!" Yang corrected with a shout, making Ruby blush ferociously.

"Yang, please don't…" she muttered.

"Ah, I stand corrected," Oobleck said. "Now, Miss Rose, I was quite fast back in my day, and I'd like to see how I measure up against today's speedsters. Would you mind a race against me? From first base to the right field foul pole and back?"

Ruby blinked. "Uh, not at all."

"Phenomenal!" Oobleck stepped up to first base and nodded. "Step right up. I wish you the best of luck!"

As Ruby joined him at the starting line, he nodded to Port. "Count us down, Peter."

"Whenever you're ready, Bartholomew."

Ruby leaned into a crouch. Even without her semblance, running was one of her biggest strengths, and she had been hoping for a chance like this to show off.

Port raised his arm. "Three-two-one—GO!" he thundered.

Ruby was off like a bullet out of a gun, flying forward with a breathtaking rush of arms pumping, legs propelling her forward, cleats biting into the ground, head down, heart pounding, and only three things to be remembered. Accelerate. Drive. _Fly._

Of course, none of that actually needed to be thought about. It was all subconscious nature to her.

Oobleck was fairly quick. But Ruby was faster. By the time she'd reached the foul pole, she was fifteen feet ahead of Oobleck, and the sprint back only doubled the margin. She had time to stop running and catch her breath before Oobleck came in, limping noticeably.

"Well ran, Miss Rose. Well ran!" Port said, clapping enthusiastically. "Bartholomew, are you all right?"

Oobleck was still doubled over, but he managed to get some words out between gasps. "A good showing… Miss Rose… Fantastic speed…" He tried to move forwards again and let out a groan, clutching his leg. "Peter, old boy," he called out. "You might have to take over. I think I've pulled my hamstring."

"Need a hand?" Ruby asked.

Oobleck gratefully took Ruby's offered hand and steadied himself. "Thank you, Miss Rose. Much appreciated." Port raised his voice, speaking to the crowd. "Is there anyone here who thinks they're faster than Miss Rose?"

Nobody spoke up.

"Nobody?" Port asked. "Surely, not even _one-"_

A confident voice rang out: "I've got someone."

Coco Adel came to the front of the crowd, leading Velvet Scarlatina by the elbow. The rabbit faunus looked more than a little reluctant about this turn in events, but she made no objection to being volunteered.

Port brightened. "Ah, Miss Scarlatina! How wonderful! I was hoping you would speak up, seeing as you led our team in stolen bases last year! Would you be interested in a race? Not with me, of course—with Miss Rose."

"I don't mind at all," Velvet said.

"Excellent. If you would take your position on the first-base line next to Miss Rose— Peter, could you give the signal? I must find the trainer."

As he started to limp away, he called over his shoulder, "An injured hamstring is no laughing matter, everyone! This is why stretching is paramount. I don't want any of you to so much as _think_ about doing anything without stretching first!"

"Are you two ready?" Port boomed as Velvet stepped up next to Ruby.

"Good luck," Ruby whispered, dropping into a preparatory crouch.

"You too," Velvet replied. "Don't hurt yourself."

"I won't."

"Three—two—one—GO!"

Now _this_ was a race. Velvet, sprinting with her ears flat against her head, was easily keeping pace with Ruby.

How many stolen bases did Velvet have last year? Ruby should have known this, since one of her hobbies was avidly tracking the statistics of every player on the Hunters. Was it fifty-four? Fifty-six? It was somewhere around that-

 _Focus! You're running a race right now!_

She pulled her thoughts back to the present, put her head down, and kept going.

Ruby was pulling ahead slightly as they rounded the foul pole,. But on the way back, a burst of speed put Velvet right at Ruby's side again, and they were neck-and-neck as they closed in on first base. Ruby was giving it everything she had, and so was Velvet. But then, just as they were about to pass the finish, disaster struck.

Ruby's foot had the misfortune to hit a piece of loose soil. That loss of traction threw her off-balance, pitching her forwards, and as her legs started to fly out from under her, she threw out an arm in search of balance. That arm accidentally hit Velvet and sent her plummeting to the ground as well.

Immediately, a gruesome hush fell—the kind brought on by a declaration of world war. Failing that, seeing the team's center fielder and shortstop sprawled on the ground and unmoving would be enough to bring that kind of horrified silence.

The silence over the field stretched for a few more seconds while Ruby checked herself for signs of injury- pain, blood, limbs pointing in alarming directions- of which there were none.

A collective sigh of relief rolled across the field as Ruby got to her feet, followed by Velvet a few seconds later.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Ruby said nervously. "Are you okay? I'm really sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," Velvet replied, dusting off her pants. "I'm fine. You ran well."

Ruby fought back a blush. "So did you."

Velvet raised an approving eyebrow. "You probably would've won if you didn't stumble."

"Yeah."

"I should tell Coco that you didn't do that on purpose before she starts plotting ways to hurt you."

"Ha," Ruby said weakly. "You're kidding, right?"

Velvet's reply didn't exactly dispel the notion. "Coco is very protective," she said. "I like her for that."

Ruby didn't ask for further details, and went to rejoin Yang.

"Nice job, sis," Yang said, patting Ruby on the shoulder as she rejoined the crowd. "You ran really well. Right up until you nearly torpedoed our playoff hopes with one bad step." She fell silent as Port launched into another longwinded tale, but soon spoke again.

"Hey, speaking of Weiss, you wouldn't happen to know why she was so touchy about her salary a few nights ago, would you? I mean, she's normally got thin skin, but she practically bit my head off when I joked about having her pay for the pizza."

Ruby winced. She remembered that incident too well. Yang didn't know how terrible the timing of her joke had been. "You picked a bad day to make that joke, Yang. Cardin Winchester was getting on her case that morning about her father and how she was nothing without her father's money and power. He said some pretty nasty stuff."

Yang exhaled. "Oh. Winchester, huh? Yikes. I've met him." She shook her head. "That makes sense. I may not have much respect for Weiss, but I would never intentionally taunt her about her family. I don't like what her father did to her at all."

Ruby nodded. The details of Weiss Schnee's schism from the rest of her family were hazy but notorious. Throughout high school and college, Weiss had played baseball while being in line to inherit the Schnee Dust Company. And Weiss really was talented. Ruby had watched the highlight reels from her high school and college days. Her swing was compact, explosive, and powerful, and she played defense with a flair that Ruby couldn't quite manage. However, many people disliked her because they believed that she was only successful because of her father. In fact, the first time Ruby had ever heard of Weiss was when she'd read an article titled 'Being Rich Doesn't Mean You're Good: Why Weiss Schnee Is Overrated.' It was stupid. Power and money couldn't get Weiss a great swing or fast reflexes- those skills had to come from natural talent. Somehow, the public didn't get that.

And then right after Weiss signed a contract with the Hunters, Jacques Schnee quietly announced that he was taking the inheritance of the SDC away from Weiss and giving the honor to her brother (On an unrelated note, Ruby couldn't even remember the name of the brother- it was something ridiculous like Wheatie or Weasel).

Ruby had her suspicions about what had happened. The timing was just coincidental enough to make her wonder if Weiss's father took the SDC away from her because she'd chosen to play baseball. Unfortunately, neither Weiss nor her father had ever said anything to support that theory, and as long as they stayed silent on that matter, Ruby's suspicions would remain just that. At least Yang seemed to think the same thing, though.

"Taking away part of her future for no reason at all- it's sickening. Believe me-" And here, Yang suddenly clenched her fist, her voice tightening- "I know what it feels like to have a parent that suddenly decides you aren't worth it. It's a pain that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."

An uncomfortable pause rose, as the two sisters suddenly thought of a woman with wild raven-black hair and red eyes who'd walked out of their lives long ago.

"Why can't you give Weiss a chance, then?" Ruby asked, breaking the silence. "You've got common ground there."

Yang frowned. "That's true, but you're forgetting the other big thing about her, sis."

"What?"

"She got caught using performance-enhancing dust. I don't like cheaters."

Ruby's heart sank. "Oh. Right." Yang hated cheaters with a burning passion. How could she have ever forgotten that?

Yang's voice rose slightly. "How many of her achievements were fake? How much of her arrogance came from knowing that she had an unfair advantage over the rest of the competition? How many clean baseball players that could've made it to the big leagues were denied a chance because she got ahead of them by cheating?"

Weiss's 50-game suspension had made headlines all over Remnant when it happened last year. Dust usage was a _big_ no-no in baseball. The sport was all about fairness and a level playing field for all. Any usage of aura, semblance or dust was seen as illegal cheating, and if a player was caught using dust to cheat- whether to quicken reflexes, increase their power, or to add velocity to pitches- they were suspended for 50 games on the first offense, 100 games on the second offense, and 162 games—a full season—on the third offense. A fourth offense could invite a lifetime ban from baseball.

Ruby wasn't going to leave her partner undefended, though. "But she's not doing it anymore! You know that any player that's been caught using PEDs gets tested for them all the time by the league. There's no way that she could hide dust usage with that kind of scrutiny."

Yang exhaled. "You're right, she's not using them anymore. But she hasn't proven herself without them. She hasn't played a game since her suspension, which means we're going to see the real Weiss Schnee this year- the one without an unfair advantage. And if she's no good without dust, then she doesn't belong in major league baseball."

Yang's attitude was making Ruby feel queasy. "How could you be so dismissive of her?"

Yang sighed. "Listen, Ruby… I know you like her, and I want to respect her, but… There are two kinds of people who use PEDs. The callous ones who just want to get ahead by any means possible, and the desperate ones. And I don't think desperation leads to the kind of arrogance that Weiss has."

Ruby shook her head. Weiss couldn't be that kind of person. Even though they'd only known each other for a few days, Ruby had noticed that Weiss used her arrogance like a shield- around Ruby, she was much more casual, but around teammates or media, she used it to ward off unwanted attention and scrutiny.

"I just think she made a bad mistake," she said softly. "Dust alone can't make you good. She's got to have _some_ real skill. Just give her a chance, Yang. It's the least she deserves."

"We'll see," Yang replied. "The good players don't need dust in order to be good."

Ruby still couldn't believe that Yang was acting like this. Sure, her sister's hatred of cheaters ran deep- and not without reason, cheating was _Bad-_ but it felt like something else was making Yang act this way.

Blake emerged from the crowd around them and stopped next to Yang. "I heard you two talking about Weiss," she said.

"Yeah?" Yang asked. "What do you think of her?"

"To be honest, I agree with Ruby a little. I don't have a problem with Weiss's dust usage. Everyone makes mistakes. Some people just make worse mistakes than others."

"That's… that's great," Ruby said haltingly. She squinted at Blake. "If it's not the dust, then what's your problem with Weiss?"

"Well…" Blake glanced around before answering. "I need to see Weiss prove herself in a different way."

"What way?"  
"She's a Schnee," Blake said. "Think about it."

Ruby blinked. Yang scratched her head.

"Sorry," Yang said. "I'm not seeing your point."

"I want to see if Weiss can exercise normal human decency. After all, the Schnee family isn't exactly well-known for their open-minded views on the rights of certain groups of people. Specifically, faunus."

 _Oh._ Ruby swallowed hard. That was a _very_ good point. One that she hadn't even thought about.

Yang's eyes narrowed. "You're right. She hasn't ever said much either way on faunus, has she?"

"No. I've checked."

"Well, she's had plenty of opportunities to say something," Yang muttered.

"I'll wait and see how she acts," Blake said. "She hasn't done anything… Yet."

Yang turned back to Ruby, carrying a look that suggested she had something unpleasant to say.

"Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not sure if you want to hear this, but I would feel worse if I didn't tell you."

Unease welled up in Ruby's stomach. "Yeah?"

"What does Weiss talk about when she talks to you?"

"Huh? Just normal stuff." Ruby shrugged. "Baseball. Stats. Small talk. Why?"

"She hasn't… mentioned dust… or anything like that?"

"No." Ruby frowned. "Why?"

"Has she ever talked about faunus or sounded… y'know… _racist?"_

"No! I've never heard anything like that. Why are you asking me this?"

Yang's voice grew bitter again. "I'm worried that she might be a bad influence on you, okay You're always going to be my baby sister and I'm always going to want to protect you. I feel like Weiss is somebody I to need to protect you from."

Ruby stared at Yang. _"Why?!"_

"You're bright and happy and innocent and hardworking, and she's… cold and unfriendly and… the opposite of you."

So _that_ was why Yang was acting this way.

"Yang." Ruby folded her arms. "I'm twenty years old now. You don't need to be so protective of me all the time. I know how to fend for myself."

Yang stared at Ruby in silence, her face working through a volley of emotions- anger, concern, sadness- before she settled on acceptance and sighed.

"You're right, I guess. I just… I just don't want you to get burned, that's all."

"Just give her a chance. I'm going to treat Weiss like any other teammate until I'm proven otherwise."

"I _am_ giving her a chance, Ruby," Yang said, gesticulating. "I've been giving her a chance ever since she showed up. She's already on her _second_ chance. She ruined her first chance when she cheated." Yang held up her hands. "But, understand this— I _want_ to be proven wrong. We really need a good second baseman, and if she's not racist, I won't care a lick about anything else as long as she can hit."

Ruby nodded sadly. Her sister had every reason to doubt Weiss. In fact, most people would probably agree with Yang. It would be no good trying to endlessly argue about whether Weiss was a good person or not. The only person who could solve that debate was Weiss.

Ruby dearly hoped that Weiss could prove herself to Blake, and Yang, and maybe the whole world.

* * *

 _Flick._

"There is _no_ way that's not touching the wall, Blake!"

"Would you like to stand up and go see for yourself?"

"I will, thank you very much!"

"Well?"

"…Dang it. You win this round. But my comeback starts now."

Ruby, Yang and Blake were engrossed in a contest of who could toss a playing card closest to the wall without actually hitting it. Yang and Blake were getting way too into it, and Ruby was losing badly. Mainly because she was thinking about Weiss way too much.

Ever since her conversation with Yang and Blake that morning, Ruby had been worrying about Weiss. A shred of doubt had found its way into her head- namely, had _she_ been too soft on her partner?

The Schnees were notorious for their questionable and sometimes outright _racist_ opinions on faunus. In addition, the Schnee Dust Company had been accused multiple times of illegally violating of labor laws and mistreating faunus employees. Some people went as far as to call the company's business practices slave labor. And Weiss had been in line to take over that corporation just two years ago. Did she know about the controversy around her family and the company? More importantly, did she care about it? And speaking of Weiss, just where _was_ she?

Weiss hadn't shown up since the end of practice, when Ruby had asked her if they wanted to go get some dinner together. She had been hoping to clear her doubts by asking some frank questions over a meal, but Weiss had declined the invitation. That had been four hours ago, and she hadn't seen her since.

"Have you guys seen Weiss?" Ruby asked aloud. "I haven't seen her since the end of practice. It's getting a little weird."

Yang flicked a card and let out a little groan of disappointment as it missed its mark. "No, I haven't seen her either. Did you check your scroll?"

Ruby pulled out her scroll, but a glance at the screen showed no new messages from Weiss. "She hasn't texted me."

"I'm not particularly worried," Blake said, flipping a card that landed just centimeters from the wall. "She can do what she wants in her free time."

Ruby nodded. "True."

However, that sentiment didn't stop her from sending a concerned text to Weiss:

 _Where are you? It's getting pretty late, you don't want to lose any sleep and end up tired in practice tomorrow :p_

She was hoping for a reply within a few minutes, but as more than a quarter of an hour passed without an answer, a wave of worry slowly rose up in her.

Just where _was_ Weiss?

Idly, she got up, walked over to the window, and gazed out. Then she noticed something odd. Their spring training field was just visible from the hotel, and while it was impossible to see if anyone was on the field, it was plain enough that the lights were still on even though practice had ended hours ago. Someone was there.

It took her all of eight seconds to make up her mind about what to do, and she went for her sneakers. The field was ten minutes from the hotel, but with her semblance, she could be there in two.

* * *

As Ruby pushed open the gate to the field, the mechanical sound of a pitching machine reached her ears. Each _thunk-whizz_ that signaled the delivery of a pitch was accompanied by the echoing crack of a bat. She pushed open the door to the dugout, mounted the last set of steps to get to the field, and was greeted with the sight of a lone figure at home plate with a snow-white ponytail trailing from her helmet. Weiss.

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

Coming closer, she noticed something odd. Despite wearing only a tank top and shorts in the night air, sweat was pouring off Weiss's face as she swung at each pitch with a scarily intent expression. It looked like she hadn't taken a break in a while.

Weiss was so hyper-focused that she didn't even notice Ruby's presence. And for a few moments, Ruby was content to stand there and watch the scene. Watching Weiss was like seeing poetry in motion. Every swing was a tense coiling and uncoiling of sinewy muscles all across her body. The way her ponytail flicked around with each swing was strangely hypnotizing.

But after several more minutes passed without Weiss noticing her, Ruby decided to get her attention.

"Weiss?" she called out cautiously. The reaction was instantaneous.

"AH!" Weiss let out a shriek, dropped her bat, and spun around with her fists half-raised as if to ward off an attack. Then comprehension dawned on her as she saw Ruby.

 _"Ruby?"_ she said, gaping.

"Hey." Ruby gave a nervous wave. "Sorry. It was getting late and I got worried about where you were, and I saw that the lights were on at the field and I ran over to see if you were here because it's late and you don't want to be out past curfew because you'll get in trouble and I wanted to make sure-"

Weiss held up her hand, stopping Ruby. "You went looking for me?"

Ruby shrugged. "Yeah. I was worried, and you weren't answering your scroll, so…" She glanced around at the field, and noticed for the first time the huge quantity of baseballs scattered around the field. "How long have you been out here?"

"Just since the end of practice."

"You've been here for the last four and a half hours?"

Weiss's eyes widened. "It's been that long?" She glanced up at the sky. "…Actually, it does seem rather dark."

"Why have you been out here for so long? Don't you need some rest?"

Weiss shifted uncomfortably and adjusted her sweat-stained tank top. "I was just getting in some extra practice. After my suspension, I have a lot of ground to make up."

Ruby's heart nearly stopped as something dawned on her.

"Weiss, did you… did you overhear me talking to Yang and Blake during the baserunning seminar this morning?"

"I…" Weiss's expression clouded, and she pulled off her helmet. "Yes, I did. I was right behind you."

"Oh." That would explain why Ruby hadn't been able to find Weiss during the lecture. She had looked everywhere _except_ right behind her. Oops.

"Weiss, I…" Ruby trailed off as she remembered Blake's words, and a new priority rose to the front of her mind. "Um, before I say anything else, I just have to ask you this one thing. So I can relax."

Weiss nodded with unease. "Go ahead."

Ruby took a deep breath. It was better to know the bad news than to be ignorant. "What are… What are your views on faunus?"

Weiss blinked at the question, and then her expression hardened. "My views are as they should be," she said. "Nothing less than equal rights with humans is justifiable. Faunus should _never_ be treated like second-class citizens. They've only got one thing that makes them different from humans, and that shouldn't make them be treated any differently. How could having an extra set of ears or a tail possibly make you less of a person than someone else?"

With each word, it felt as if a huge burden was coming off Ruby's shoulders. The things she'd feared- a suspiciously hesitant denial, or even, unthinkably, blatant racism- weren't coming to fruition. The conviction in Weiss's voice was enough for her.

"I believe you," she said.

Weiss nodded. "Thank you." She smiled sadly. "You must be the only person on this team who'll believe me that quickly, though."

Ruby shifted. "That's not true. Why can't you just tell other people what you told me?"

"They don't trust me like you do." Weiss's voice grew despairing, and she sat down heavily on the ground. "But I don't know what I can do to prove it to them. If I try to go out of my way to show that I'm not what they think I am, it'll look fake!"

"I could tell them for you," Ruby suggested.

Weiss blinked at her. "Thank you. But…" She hesitated. "This may sound silly, but I want them to hear it from me. It feels more genuine that way."

Ruby nodded. "I get that. But Weiss, I think if you say what you just said to me, people would-"

"No, they wouldn't. Most people think I'm a liar. With good reason, too. How do I get them to believe me about _anything?"_

"I know Yang and Blake were saying some pretty mean things about you, but it's not what you think, they just-"

"No." The defeated tone in Weiss's voice stopped Ruby cold. "No," she repeated. "They're right. Both of them."

"Weiss…"

"I cheated. I made a mistake," she said. "There's no changing that. I know it's going to take a lot of work to change people's opinions of me. And I'm ready to put in that work. People like Cardin Winchester aren't outliers. There are a lot of people who think I'm a villain." She turned away from Ruby, gazing out towards the field. "They see me as someone who coasted on her family name. They see me as someone who turned to cheating after she realized that she couldn't use her father's power anymore. They see someone who isn't apologetic about cheating, someone who is arrogant and selfish and closed off. That's what your sister sees me as. And she has every right to think that."

"No, she doesn't!"

"Yes, she does." Weiss's voice rose. "I've made myself what I am, and now I'm the only one that can undo it."

"How did you 'make' yourself this way?" An ugly question popped into Ruby's mind. "You didn't actually coast on your family name, did you?"

Weiss snapped her head around. "No!" she said vehemently, looking Ruby in the eyes. After a few seconds, she deflated and looked away again.

"…But I can't prove it. Yang said it perfectly. There's only one way I can prove anything, and that's by playing well. So that's why I'm practicing so late at night. It's nobody's fault but my own."

"Weiss, why can't people see this side of you?" Ruby pleaded. "You could help everyone understand you so much more if you _told_ them all this."

Weiss lowered her head, placing it between her knees, and spoke in a hush while continuing to stare at the ground.

"I'm afraid," she whispered. "Afraid of what'll happen if I show any weakness at all."

She didn't say anything else, and it felt like there wasn't much else to be said. They lapsed into silence.

There wasn't going to be an easy way to talk Weiss out of her self-deprecating streak. But there was something Ruby could do right now. She stood up, walked out to the mound, and pushed the pitching machine aside. Then she began a quick stretching routine- just enough to get her arm loose for what she wanted to do.

Weiss was watching Ruby with curiosity by now.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Ruby plucked a baseball from the pitching machine. "Helping you," Ruby replied, plucking a baseball from the pitching machine. "If you think the only way to redeem yourself is by playing well, then I'll help. I can throw better than this pitching machine."

Weiss's mouth fell open. "You're serious?" she asked.

"Serious as a snowstorm in Atlas," Ruby said. At the brief sag in Weiss's smile, she backpedaled. "Okay, maybe not the best analogy. Um… a rainstorm in… Vacuo? Wait, no, a sandstorm. No, forget the weather analogy-"

Weiss put her helmet back on and stepped back up to the plate. "Oh, shut up, you dolt," she said, but without any anger in her words. "Just throw." After a pause, she added, "And _thank you."_

Ruby smiled. "You're welcome."

With that, she drew back and let a pitch fly.

* * *

"Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"You know that we have to pick up all these baseballs before we can go anywhere, right?"

"I do."

"Don't worry. It won't take more than a few hours if we do it quickly."

"That's not comforting at all."

"Hey, it's not like we aren't already sleep-deprived."

"I know. I'd rather not think about it."

 **Thanks for reading. Next chapter should come up before the end of the month. Hope you guys enjoyed this one, and don't forget to leave a review; I love them! Muffin out.**


	4. Let The Games Begin

**Chapter Four: Let The Games Begin**

 **I'm sorry this chapter took so long. It gave me so much trouble, and I went through three or four drafts that all looked massively different for each other. But I pushed through it because my readers are amazing and I don't want to disappoint you guys. Hopefully, it'll get easier to write from here on out.  
** **Also, here's a big thank-you to HundredSunsets on AO3 for looking this over on short notice due to my main beta being temporarily incapacitated.**

It was the first game of spring training, and Ruby had never been so nervous in her life. Yes, the games didn't actually count for anything yet, but now people were watching her on _television._ If she tripped over her own feet, everyone would see it, and they would laugh at her. If she booted a grounder, everyone would laugh at her. If she tried to throw the ball to first base and missed so badly that she beaned the guy selling ice cream next to the field, everyone would laugh at her. If she forgot the number of outs, everyone would laugh at her. One time, back at Signal Academy, she had forgotten the number of outs. It was _awful._ The worst thing about fielding was that there was only one way to make a play the right way, but infinitely many ways that she could mess it up. Ninety-nine-point-five percent of the time, she didn't mess up. But a zero-point-five percent rate for catastrophic failure was still terrifying. So, as she shifted her weight from foot to foot in the infield, waiting for the first pitch of spring training, it would be fair to say she was nervous.

Glynda had tried to defuse the tension with a small pep talk before the game. "No pressure here. You've got nothing to lose," she'd assured the team, before adding, "But that doesn't mean you should slack off. We've got to be ready to hit the ground running when the games start to count."

Ruby would've followed that advice to the letter, except that when she tried to hit the ground running, she usually fell flat on her face. Literally.

Being the first game of spring training, the team was putting their best foot forward– every starter from last year's team was on the field: Yang on the mound, Nora in left field, Velvet in center, Yatsuhashi catching, and Ren at first base. Then there were the four newcomers to the team with high expectations– Ruby at short, Pyrrha at third, Blake in right field, and Weiss across from her at second base.

Ruby glanced over at Weiss, who didn't look the least bit nervous. She was fiddling with her glove with an expression of cool professionalism. How could she not look nervous _at all_ right now? Ruby felt about as calm and collected as that time in Signal where one of her cleats had fallen off while she was trying to leg out a triple (But that was another story). This had to be one reason how Weiss ended up with the "Ice Queen" nickname– by looking as cool as ice all the time. She turned her attention to home plate as the leadoff batter strode up to bat. Their opponents were the Vale City Crusaders, the reigning champions of the Vale League Central Division– the division that Beacon played in. If the Hunters were going to have any success this year, they needed to hold their own against the Crusaders. Easier said than done. Last year, Vale City had won 95 games and lost 67. Beacon had gone 79-83.

The batter dug in at the plate. Yang looked in for the sign from Yatsuhashi and nodded. Ruby took a deep breath and crouched down, balling her hand into a fist and smacking the pocket of her glove. This game wouldn't count for anything. But she had only one chance to make a first impression. And it had to be good.

Yang kicked her leg up, drove forward, and just like that, the ball was in the air, flying towards home plate–

 _Crack._

Years later, Ruby Rose would still be mad at the universe for making the Crusaders batter hit the ball towards her.

It was a hard, bouncing grounder, and for one fraction of a second, Ruby panicked.

 _Thefirstpitchofspringtrainingandtheball'scomingatmeAAAAAAAAAAAAA–_

Then her instincts kicked in. She moved forward a step to meet the ball as it bounded towards her, put her glove out, and the ball thudded into her grasp. So far, so good.

She turned, reaching for the ball with her throwing hand, and that was when she realized things weren't going to plan. It hadn't been a clean scoop, and as a result, the ball was still rattling around in her glove, which meant that when she tried to transfer it to her throwing hand, she might as while have been trying to catch a butterfly with a spoon.

 _Nonononono–_

Finally, after a few agonizing milliseconds, she managed to close her fingers around the unruly baseball, and she whipped her arm around, firing the ball to Ren at first base. The throw beat the runner by a foot.

Yang gave Ruby a thumbs-up and a brilliant smile as Ren tossed the ball back to her. "Nice one, sis!" she called out. "Just do that ten thousand more times and you can call it a career!"

Ruby gave her a weak smile in return and checked to make sure her heart was still beating. _Dust, I love this sport,_ she thought happily.

* * *

 ** _Half an hour later_**

"Ruby, will you _please_ stop fidgeting?" Weiss asked. "You're practically shaking the entire dugout."

"Sorry! I can't help it," Ruby said, making no effort to stop bouncing in her seat, as she'd been doing for the last five minutes. "I'm just excited!"

"I understand that," Weiss said with a sigh. "But what exactly are you excited about?"

 _"Everything!"_ Ruby said, throwing her arms out. "We're playing baseball on a sunny day in Vacuo, and we're getting paid to do it! There's nothing on Remnant I would rather be doing right now!" She poked Weiss. "Come on, doesn't this make _you_ the least bit excited?"

And then, miracle of miracles– a slight but genuine smile graced Weiss's face for an instant. It brightened her whole face, and for a few moments, Weiss didn't seem nearly as cold as she usually did.

"Yes… it does," she said. "I suppose I just don't show it as well as you do."

Weiss's real smile was entrancing. Ruby wanted to see her smile like that more often.

Suddenly, the brief glimpse of happiness disappeared, and Weiss's normal mask slammed back into place. The reason for that quickly became clear as Ruby heard someone else coming up behind her.

"Hey, sis," Yang said, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I had to move your baseball bag last inning because you put it on top of my stuff." She held up Ruby's bag. "I just wanted to make sure it got back to you."

"Thanks." Ruby reached out to take it back. "Did you –"

 _Crack._

The sound of wood meeting a baseball interrupted her, and she turned to see Ren drive the ball into the left-center gap. As she watched, Nora came around to score from second.

"WOO!" Ruby yelled.

A few moments later, Nora jogged into the dugout, high-fiving teammates as she went, and started to pass by them.

"How's that pitcher looking, Nora?" Ruby asked.

Nora stopped, pulling off her helmet. "Honestly?" She winked. "Dead meat. He's throwing arrow-straight fastballs that I could hit blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back both ways uphill in the snow while fighting an Ursa."

Ruby blinked. "So… he's hittable?"

 _"Very_ hittable. Count on getting up this inning unless they pull him."

"Thanks!" Ruby's already-palpable excitement hit new heights as she took her bag from her sister. "Yang, do you know what this means?"

Yang grinned. "Is it time to bring out your pride and joy?"

"You bet!"

There was a compartment on her bag that Ruby had kept shut all winter, and it was right now that she was reaching for the zipper to open it. "Oh, I've been waiting for this moment for months!" she said.

"What? Hitting?"

"Shush, Ice Queen," Yang said. "This is a special moment. Let her have it."

Ruby ignored them both as she unzipped the compartment and, with an ecstatic breath, drew out thirty-three inches of red-and-black wood.

"A baseball bat?" Weiss asked, sounding let down.

"Not just any baseball bat!" Ruby said, cradling it in her arms. "Her name is Crescent Rose!" She ran her hands along the barrel, savoring the feel of the smooth wood under her fingers. "Oh, I've _missed_ having her in my hands."

"Why haven't I seen you using that before?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, I only use Crescent Rose when I'm actually playing a game. I don't use her for batting practice because I don't want to increase the risk of breaking her." She pressed the barrel to her face. After sitting in the Vacuo heat for hours, the wood felt warm against her cheek. "This is her first time out since last fall!"

"Aw, this is too cute," Yang cooed. "Only you would be so devoted to a baseball bat, Rubes."

"Hey!" Ruby looked up. "I remember perfectly well when you named your glove 'Ember Celica' in middle school, you know!"

"Guilty," Yang said, shrugging. "At least I don't sleep with my glove."

"We're ignoring the big question here!" Weiss said. She pointed at Ruby. _"_ Why did you give your bat a name and a gender?"

"Who _doesn't?"_ Ruby replied.

"I, for one!" Weiss said.

Yang shook her head. "That's not normal, Ice Queen. Everyone here's had at least one piece of equipment with a name. Like Nora."

"Yup!" Nora said, popping out of nowhere and waving her bat. "Magnhild says hello!"

"But still–"

"Yatsuhashi!" Yang shouted. "What's the name of your bat?"

"Sticky," was the reply from across the dugout.

"Oh, and I know Pyrrha calls one of her bats 'Milo,'" Nora added.

Yang turned back to Weiss with a smirk. "See?" she said. "We're the normal ones."

"What– what about you, Belladonna?" Weiss asked with a note of desperation, turning to the right fielder who had been sitting a few feet away from them the whole time. "Tell me you don't partake in this."

"Nope, Weiss," Blake said with a shrug. "My bat has a name, too."

"Ooh, what's its name?" Yang cut in.

"Gambol Shroud."

"Gambol?" Yang furrowed her brow. "Is that a name? I've never heard it before."

"You could look it up," Blake said.

"I think I will." Yang pulled out her scroll, tapped out a search, and after reading silently for a few seconds, she looked up, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You basically named your bat 'Dancing Shadow?' That's, uh, dramatic."

"You're one to talk about dramatics. You named your glove 'Heavenly Fire,'" Blake retorted.

"Haven't you _ever_ given one of your bats a name, Weiss?" Ruby asked. "Or a glove? Or your cleats, even? Never? Not even once?"

"Well, I–" Weiss hesitated, and she reddened slightly. "N-no, I haven't!" she finished heatedly.

"Never?" Ruby pressed. She would admit that she was the worst person in the world at lying, but Weiss was making a good case for second place.

"N-never!" Weiss repeated.

Yang crossed her arms. "You couldn't sound any less believable if you tried to convince us that you had a heart."

"Fine!" Weiss growled, throwing her arms up. "I did name my bat. But it was _once!_ And it was in _little league!_ I was seven years old!"

"Hey, they say that all baseball players are still kids at heart," Yang said. She paused, thinking for a moment. "You know, that would explain a lot. Your heart must've frozen up as a kid, so that's why you've never named anything again."

Weiss sent a withering glare at Yang. "Xiao Long, could you _please_ go find someone else to antagonize?"

Ruby glanced back and forth between her sister and her teammate, wondering frantically how to intervene in this conflict, until she was yanked back into the game going on at that moment.

"Miss Rose!" Glynda barked, appearing behind Ruby.

"AH!" Ruby jumped and whipped around. "Yes? What's going on?"

"You're on deck," Glynda said. "Get a helmet on. And please do hurry. Forgetting about your own at-bat is never a good look."

"Oh! You got it!" Ruby said. She picked up Crescent Rose and went for the helmet rack, leaving behind Weiss and Yang, while hoping that they wouldn't tear each other apart while she was gone.

* * *

Three days later, facing the Desert Hills Nomads, with Cardin Winchester pitching, things went south. And it wasn't the 'going on holiday to the coast of Vacuo' kind of south.

In the top of the fourth with two outs, a monkey Faunus on the Nomads hit a ground ball to the left of Ren that wasn't far away enough to get by him, but just far off enough to pull him away from first base, forcing Winchester to cover first. It was an easy play, and Ren tossed the ball to Winchester for the third out with no difficulty. Ruby was already jogging towards the dugout as Ren made the throw.

Unfortunately, as the Nomads player ran through the base, he brushed against Winchester with his shoulder. That could've been a pure accident– unintentional collisions like that happened every day in baseball– but Winchester seemed to take it as a personal offense and started jawing at the runner.

"You got a _problem,_ buddy?" he snarled, stepping forward. "Keep your damn hands off me."

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa-" The Desert Hills runner held up his hands, his tail flicking behind him. "Calm down, man. It was an accident!"

Winchester stepped forward, sneering. "Yeah, sure it was."

Ruby veered away from her path towards the dugout, fear coming over her as she wondered if she would have to deal with her-first ever brawl, but the first-base umpire wasn't having any of that. He was between them and pushing Winchester away before anyone else got close to the scene. Thankfully, the runner wasn't looking for a fight, but that didn't stop them from sniping at each other as they retreated.

"Cool your jets, man. I didn't know it was a national crime to bump into you," the other player shouted.

"And don't you forget it!" Winchester barked, jabbing his finger at the runner as he retreated towards the dugout.

That should've been the end of it. However, Winchester wasn't done fuming, and as Ruby jogged into the dugout, he threw his glove onto the ground with an angry _thwack._

"Faunus _bastard,_ " he growled, plopping down on the bench.

Four people besides Ruby were close enough to hear that. One was Yang, who had come up to Ruby to offer a high-five. The second and third were Velvet and Blake, trotting in from the outfield. And the fourth was Weiss, who had been minding her own business on the bench when Winchester decided to sit down near her. Ruby stopped dead as soon as she heard it. Winchester's suspect views on Faunus were no secret, but this was her first time hearing anything like _this._

Yang was the first to react, swiveling towards Winchester as a tinge of red flashed in her eyes. _"What_ did you say?"

"That Faunus bastard," Winchester repeated. "The rascal thought he could knock some fear into me. Heh." He grinned and leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "I shouldn't even be mad, really. He didn't scare me one bit. That's his animal half, y'know? Just like all of his kind. He's gotta try and be the alpha male."

Okay. That… that was just wrong.

Yang took another step forward. Velvet and Blake were staring at Cardin with expressions of complete and utter disgust. Ruby was mere seconds away from telling Winchester to shut up. A confrontation seemed imminent– and then Winchester opened his mouth again.

"Right, Schnee?" he asked suddenly, directing his question at the snow-haired girl to his right. "Ain't that the truth?"

"What?" Weiss jerked up, taken completely by surprise. "It – I–" She faltered, and for one second, Ruby thought she saw a look of pure terror flash across her face. But as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, and Weiss still hadn't said a coherent reply.

Yang was now watching Weiss with a raised eyebrow. To her left, Blake had an eerily similar expression, also directed at Weiss. They were watching to see what Weiss would do.

"Winchester." Weiss's voice was different now– cooler and much more controlled. Whatever she was going to say, it was coming now.

 _Please don't mess this up, Weiss,_ Ruby pleaded silently.

"What?" Winchester asked, frowning as he noticed the sudden iciness in Weiss's voice.

"Please don't ever think that I would believe something as close-minded and idiotic as what you're saying."

"Wha-wha–" Winchester spluttered, his face reddening. "Are you calling me an idiot?"

"Considering the way you were just talking…" Weiss paused. "Yes."

Winchester stood up, rising to his full height over Weiss. "He tried to run me over, and I'M the one you call an idiot?!"

"That was a small and entirely accidental collision," Weiss said. "You're overreacting."

"He ran right into me! He didn't even try to avoid me!" Winchester moved even closer to Weiss as he said this, and the difference in size between them was suddenly very apparent. Weiss didn't look the least bit fazed by this, but Ruby was starting to worry for her friend's safety. At least until someone else stepped in.

"Hey. You were in the basepath, Winchester."

This interjection was from Blake. Winchester turned to face her.

"So?!"

"What was he supposed to do?" Blake continued, her tone growing sarcastic. "Stop nicely so as to not hurt you, and just _let_ himself be put out?"

"He was going to be out anyway!" Winchester fumed. "What's _your_ problem with me, Belladonna?!"

Winchester was now surrounded on all sides by angry teammates (and the rest of the team had started to notice what was going on by now), and he still wasn't backing down. This wasn't going to end well.

"Mr. Winchester."

Cardin froze as Glynda's voice, low and angry, carried across the dugout. Their manager stalked up to them, fury radiating from her. And all of it was directed at Winchester. As she approached, she shifted her clipboard into its baseball bat form.

"You are being irrational. He ran into you by accident, and you need to move on from it." She hefted her bat over her shoulder, and somehow her glare became even more ferocious. "And that comment that about Faunus was incredibly derogatory. Attitudes of that sort will not be tolerated on this team."

Winchester was silent now, and all traces of anger were gone from his face, replaced by an air of forced compliance as he stared down Glynda's bat.

"That's much better. Now–" Glynda turned her bat back into a clipboard. "I'm taking you out of the game. Sit down." With that, she looked down at her clipboard, signaling that the matter was closed.

Winchester sat down, deflated, and just like that, the crisis was over.

Ruby made her way over to the water cooler, where she was joined by Yang a few seconds later.

"Wow," Yang muttered. "I've heard the rumors about him– who hasn't? – but Dust, he's even worse than I thought he would be."

"I don't think I want him on the team, Yang," Ruby said.

"Same here. But we signed him. We're stuck with him unless he gets traded or released. You all right, Velvet?"

That question was directed at the center fielder, who had just joined them, looking very shell-shocked.

"I'm fine," Velvet replied. "I just… I don't understand why anyone would _choose_ to be like that." She sighed, her rabbit ears drooping noticeably. "And he's going to be on our team for the next few years."

"Ugh… Hey, you know that we'll all have your back if he tries to pull anything, right?"

"I'm not worried about my safety," Velvet said. "Coco already acts like a bodyguard around me all the time."

"If she knew what was going on a second ago, she would've climbed out of the bullpen and run across the field to deck Winchester. So she'll be first in line to castrate him if he goes after you."

"That's true."

"Seriously, though, we've all got your back here. Not just Coco. Me, Fox, Yatsu, Nora, Ren, Blake, Ruby– the list goes on. We outnumber him, plain and simple."

"Yeah, consider me part of your protection squad!" Ruby said.

"Coco can give you a membership card," Yang said, and her voice was deadpan enough to make Ruby wonder if that was a thing.

Velvet smiled. "Thank you, Ruby. But you really don't have to go out of your way. You've probably got enough to worry about as it is."

"No, it's fine!" Ruby made a fist and smacked it into her palm. "I'm ready to help anyone!"

"Good for you, Ruby," Yang said. "Winchester's going to be in trouble." She shrugged. "Heck, it looks like even Ice Queen is willing to put up a few words in your defense, Velvet. That's something…" She looked over Ruby's shoulder. "And, speak of the devil, look who's here."

Ruby turned around and saw Weiss refilling her cup at the water cooler. As she tipped the cup back to take a drink, she noticed the three pairs of eyes on her.

"What?" Weiss asked, lowering her cup. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"Hey, Ice Queen," Yang said.

"Hey?" she said warily.

Yang gave her a slap on the shoulder. "You did good with Winchester."

"…Thank you?"

"It's a start," Yang said. "Only a start, but it's a good start." She stretched languidly and winced. "Ugh. I could use a soak in the hot tub. I'll catch you after the game, sis," she said to Ruby, before walking past and disappearing into the locker room.

"What on Remnant was that?" Weiss asked, staring after Yang.

A slow grin spread over Ruby's face as she realized what was happening. It was exactly was hoping for.

"Keep doing what you're doing, Weiss. I think you're starting to prove yourself."

 **As someone who plays baseball, I can confirm that we've all had a moment like Ruby in the middle of a game, where you're just like "oh christ the ball's coming at me WHAT DO I DO."  
**

 **Anyway, please leave a review- I LOVE seeing them, and I read and cherish each and every one of them. All of my readers have been wonderful reviewers so far, so here's a huge thank-you for that. One of the only things that makes me as happy as baseball is a review on my story. Thanks for reading! Air Force Muffin out.**


	5. In Which Tragic Backstories Are Shown

**Chapter 5**

 **Well... here it is. After two months, which included an ungodly amount of homework in school and a month of frantic studying for the APUSH exam, I finished Chapter Five. I'm really sorry about the lateness of this one. But now it's here. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **Thank you to mylordshesacactus (a quality human being) for proofreading this.**

After a quiet loss to the Shade Knights, Ruby was sitting in front of her locker and icing a nasty bruise on her shin (which was the result of a wayward foul ball in the eighth inning). The locker room was quiet, as things usually were after a loss.

Next to her locker, a large flatscreen TV was perched on a chair, and at some point, a dilapidated couch had been pushed in front of it to create a makeshift lounge. It was this couch that Jaune was flopping down onto with a groan.

"Dang it!" He muttered, tossing his glove onto the floor.

"Tough game," Ruby said conversationally.

"Tell me about it… At least _you_ did something right and had a hit. Every time I threw the ball, I didn't know if it was going to be a strike, a ball, or go sailing into the next continent."

"You weren't _bad,_ Jaune," Pyrrha said, leaning over the couch to put a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over it."

Jaune snorted. "I only walked seven batters in three innings. Did I do _anything_ well today?"

"But you didn't give up any hits, either."

"Well.. that's probably because they didn't really need to swing," he groused.

"Don't forget, you had five strikeouts, too," Pyrrha said.

"Yeah..." Jaune shrugged, reaching for the remote. "I hope Coach can see what _you_ see in me." He flipped the TV on.

A sports reporter was talking onscreen. "–live to southern Mistral–" she was saying, "–where the Haven Firebirds' manager is speaking to the press about her team's performance this spring."

As soon as she heard the words _Haven Firebirds_ and _manager_ in the same sentence, Ruby's eyes widened. "Jaune, change the channel," she said urgently.

"What?" Jaune looked up in confusion.

"Could you give me the– _"_

Onscreen, the reporter continued. "For someone so taciturn, Raven Branwen has been unusually talkative about her team's chances this year."

Too late.

The image on the screen changed, and the reporter was replaced by a woman with red eyes and wild black hair barely enclosed by a baseball cap. Leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, she spoke in a cool drawl to an array of reporters.

"–been exceeding my expectations. This is a tremendous team, and I fully expect to win it all this year. Cinder Fall has been–"

 _CLANG._

Everyone in the locker room jumped at the abrupt noise. Ruby turned around to see Yang standing at the other side of the room with her hand on the door of her locker, having just slammed it shut. Her eyes, their color now a burning red, were focused on Jaune, and her expression bore a deep scowl.

Jaune quailed under the intense stare and shrank into the couch. Somehow, he found the bravery to squeak out an audible "What?" as Yang glared at him.

Yang didn't reply. After a few long seconds had passed, she shook her head and stalked out of the locker room, still silent. In doing so, she left behind Blake, who had been in a middle of a conversation with her. The right fielder only watched as Yang walked out.

Jaune shut the TV off and stared as the door swung shut behind her. "What… what was _that?"_

"Jaune," Ruby said slowly. "That was Yang's mom on the TV."

Jaune's eyebrows rose. "Raven Branwen– _the_ Raven Branwen, the manager of the Firebirds– is _her_ mom?" He still looked confused. "What's wrong with that?"

"They're estranged. Yang _hates_ her." Ruby glanced at the door Yang had exited through. "She really doesn't like being reminded about her at all."

"Estranged?"

That was Blake, coming up behind them. "I was going to ask what triggered Yang's reaction, but… I see. If I may ask, what happened between them?"

Ruby winced. "Well… it's a really sore subject for Yang, so I don't want to say a lot, but… Raven left us without saying anything– I don't really remember her, I was pretty young, but Yang does– and we didn't hear from her until she became the manager of the Firebirds three years ago."

"That's unbelievable," Blake said, horrified. "What kind of–" She stopped, her eyes drifting to something behind Ruby.

Ruby turned around to see Yang walking back into the locker room, her eyes now back to their normal lavender. She started towards her locker, then changed her mind, and started towards their group in the corner.

"Hey," she said, her voice quiet as she sat down on the couch. "If you were talking about me and… _her?"_ she said, waving her hand. "Don't stop talking just because I'm here."

Surprisingly, Blake spoke first, finishing her question. "What kind of person would do that?"

"A scumbag." Yang's reply was immediate and toneless. "She didn't even say goodbye. Just waited for a day when we were out of the house, left a note, and disappeared to Mistral. She's never acknowledged me since she left. Not even once. Not even when she took the job with the Haven freaking Firebirds."

No one replied to this.

After a few moments, Yang's eyes shifted to Jaune. "Hey, Arc… Sorry for scaring you."

"It's fine," Jaune said quickly. "I won't do it again."

"Don't worry about it, all right? I'll try not overreact like that again, so don't feel like you have to tiptoe on eggshells around me. I'm not mad at you."

Jaune nodded. "Thanks."

Ruby turned back to her locker.

* * *

"Yang, do you _always_ drive like this?" Blake asked, clinging to the door as they whipped around a curve.

"Yeah, pretty much… It's how I used to drive my motorcycle, but once I got to the major leagues, I had to switch to a car for safety reasons... I didn't really like the change, so I never tried driving any differently. Two wheels just feels better to me." Yang patted the steering wheel as she swerved into another lane. "But this comes pretty close to the rush I get driving a bike."

"Yes, a bright yellow muscle car does suit you quite well," Blake remarked.

Ruby knew Yang wasn't a _bad_ driver. She was just… bold. Very bold. Riding with her, as she and Blake were doing right now, was an experience. It always involved loose interpretations of the speed limit and blaring horns from angry motorists.

"Yang?" Blake asked.

"Yeah?" Yang said, accelerating to catch a yellow light.

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you… drive more slowly?"

"What? Oh, sure!" Yang put on the brakes, and, for the first time Ruby could remember, started driving at the speed limit.

"Thank you," Blake said, while Ruby stared at her in astonishment.

"No problem!" Yang braked for a red light, and while _braking_ wasn't unusual, what was new was that the deceleration didn't toss Ruby around like a Ping-Pong ball.

"Nice game today, huh?" Yang remarked.

"I'll say," Blake said.

"You know your triple in the sixth, Blake? You absolutely _crushed_ that. The ball went off your bat like a scalded cat."

Blake coughed before replying. "It was a hanging curve. I should've hit it out."

Yang waved her hand. "Eh, triple, home run… who cares? You were all over that."

The light turned green, and they rolled forward again.

"But seriously, you might be the solution we've needed in right field for the last few years. It's been a revolving door of mediocrity. Some of the players we've had there… Ugh." Yang shuddered as she turned onto a side street. "The less said about them, the better…" She trailed off, her voice changing pitch. "Wait, what the–?"

Their hotel was visible just a little way down the street from them. But dead ahead, a multitude of police cars and people were in the road, blocking their way.

"Okay… Something's up." Yang stopped the car.

Blake opened her door. "It looks serious."

The three of them got out.

"I hope no one's hurt," Ruby said worriedly, craning her neck in a fruitless effort to see over the crowd ahead. The only thing she could see were the flashing lights of an ambulance.

"Excuse me, officer?" Yang asked to a passing cop. "What's going on?"

"White Fang incident," was the short reply from the officer as she hurried past them.

Ruby's eyes widened. A terror group… right here?

"What?" Yang scratched her head. "The White Fang, around _here?_ I didn't think this was a bad part of town– _Blake,_ what's wrong?"

Blake didn't reply. She was staring at the crowd with an expression of intense dread, her eyes wider than Ruby had ever seen them.

"Blake?" Yang repeated, concern creeping into her voice.

Finally, Blake responded. "I…" she swallowed. "I'm sorry. I just… I was caught off-guard. We should leave."

"You're right. I don't want to be near this." Yang glanced around. "Man, I hope everyone else got into the hotel okay."

Ruby didn't hear the rest, because a ball of blind fear had appeared in her chest, making her feel so tight she thought she would burst: _Weiss._

Weiss had left before they did, and she would've taken this route to the hotel… Suddenly, Ruby thought of the rash of White Fang raids and attacks against the Schnee Dust Company in recent years. Weiss could be a perfect target– a Schnee out in the open, alone–

She jumped onto the hood of Yang's car, ignoring her sister's exclamation of surprise. And, finally able to see over the crowd, an ugly scene greeted her. A plate-glass storefront had been shattered, and on the pavement in front of the store, three red marks had been spray-painted in a diagonal pattern to resemble a claw's gouges– the symbol of the White Fang. Someone was being put into the ambulance.

"Can you see anything?" Yang asked. "How bad is it?"

"A window got broken and it looks like someone's hurt… I think that's it." Ruby squinted, trying to see if it was Weiss in the ambulance, but she couldn't tell.

She looked down at Yang. "Do you think Weiss is okay? I'm worried she got caught in this while getting back to the hotel."

"I'm sure she's fine. That officer called it an 'incident,' not an 'attack.' If it was really bad, they wouldn't have said that."

"I guess." Ruby went back to scanning the crowd. And then she caught sight of a familiar shade of snow-white at the edge of the crowd.

 _Thank Dust for Weiss's extremely noticeable hair,_ she thought.

She jumped off the hood and ran for the crowd, ignoring Yang's shout of concern, and in a few seconds, she'd covered the distance to Weiss.

As Ruby ran up, Weiss started to turn at the sound of her footsteps, and surprise crossed her face as she caught sight of her.

"Ruby?" she asked.

"Weiss!" Ruby squealed, the storm of fear inside her evaporating. Impulsively, she jumped forward and gave Weiss a crushing hug. "You're not hurt!"

"Ruby! Wh-what are you doing?" Weiss asked.

Ruby's answer came out in a rush; she was too relieved to care about speaking slowly. "I heard that there was a White Fang attack and I thought maybe you'd been hurt so I was looking for you and I was really worried and then–"

"I– I am grateful for your concern, but that's not what I was asking!" Weiss's voice rose in pitch suddenly. "Why are you hugging me?"

"Huh?" Ruby pulled back. "Because you're not hurt!"

Weiss stared at her with such a dumbfounded expression that Ruby wondered for a second if the girl had ever had a hug in her life. Then she brushed it off. There was no way that could ever happen to anyone… Right?

"What happened?" she asked. "How'd you get here?"

"I was getting coffee and I heard a commotion from down the street. They're saying that it was a–"

"Ruby!"

That was Yang, pushing through the crowd with Blake trailing behind her. "Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack, running off like that!"

"Sorry!"

"Seriously." Yang reached out and patted Ruby's arm like she needed to make sure she was really there. "Don't do that."

"I'm sorry… But I found Weiss!"

Yang's gaze fell on Weiss. "Oh, you did? Great! Now let's get out of here," she said, turning away. "We don't need to see any more of this. Coming, Weiss?"

"Definitely."

"Agreed," Blake said, looking only too happy to be getting away from the crime scene.

"This is just _weird,_ " Yang remarked. "This is my fourth year at spring training here and that's the first time I've _ever_ seen White Fang trouble."

"It's very odd," Weiss agreed. "And right here, too. Our hotel was right down the street. We could've been right there when it happened…" She shook her head.

Ruby turned to Blake, meaning to ask if she had ever seen anything like this, but the question died on her tongue as she realized something was wrong. Blake still had the expression of deep-seated terror from before, and her eyes were now focused on some point in the distance. She seemed to be in an entirely different world.

Yang had noticed by now. "Blake?" she asked. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Blake blinked and looked at Yang. "Sorry, what?"

"You okay?" Yang asked. "You looked a little, um, distressed for a few seconds."

Blake's reply was halting. "Sorry… It… it was just a shock." She sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry. I'm overreacting."

"Hey. It's all right." Yang laid a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Sometimes I freak out when I think about the terrible people in this world. But you gotta remember, there are more good people than bad out there. That's how I stay afloat sometimes."

Blake gave Yang something resembling a smile. "You're right."

* * *

"Good try, Rose."

"Can't hit 'em all."

"You'll get it next time."

The various comments from other teammates washed over Ruby as she made her way to the bench. She slumped down and let out a long exhalation. For a few seconds, she was happy to sit there quietly. Today wasn't going well. Two strikeouts and a weak groundout– about as impressive as a bowl of cold oatmeal. It wasn't the end of the world, of course, but it sure felt that way right now. To be fair, spring training wasn't going _badly._ It just could be better. Sure, she wasn't getting many hits, but she wasn't looking completely overmatched, either. Her problem was the competition.

Hei "Junior" Xiong, once an offensive linchpin for the Vale City Crusaders in their days of six consecutive division titles, was now a washed-up veteran fighting for a job. And, unfortunately, he was playing out of his mind. With five homers (and counting) plus a batting average ninety points higher than hers, he was soundly beating her for the shortstop job.

She could see him at the other side of the dugout, chewing on a wad of gum and watching the game with an expression of indifference.

He hadn't interacted with her at all (there was a good chance that Yang had scared him into staying away from her), but Ruby hoped there weren't any malevolent feelings between them. Even if her sister had kicked his butt in a Vale nightclub last year. They were two people competing for one spot. Simple math said that one person would be disappointed, and she had accepted that.

But, more importantly, everyone around her was doing great. Weiss was holding her own and quieting doubters. Blake was getting rave reviews from everywhere. And Yang, despite having navigated a few rocky outings in the spring, didn't seem worried at all.

"It doesn't matter how you do until the games start counting," she'd said to Ruby with a wink.

Ruby wished she could believe that.

 _"Ugh."_

Weiss sat down next to Ruby, pulling her out of her morose thoughts.

Ruby sat up. "What's up, Weiss?"

"Did you _hear_ that?" Weiss asked, pulling off her helmet.

"Hear what?"

"Obviously not." Weiss let out a huff. "Some nimrod in the front row was chanting 'cheater' while I was at bat. I didn't acknowledge him, of course, but… gah! I wish people could move on from that"

"Did you hit a home run and shut him up?" Ruby asked. "Because that would be _so_ awesome."

"No. I flew out to left field."

"At least you hit the ball harder than I did."

"Hmph." Weiss started pulling her batting gloves off. "I cannot wait for the regular season to start."

"Yeah…" Ruby slumped down again. There wasn't much time left. Less than a week. Seventy-five players at the start of spring training had been cut down to fifty. And half of the players still here would be gone by the start of the season. She was starting to seriously wonder where she would be going.

 **Who saw Penny in RWBY Chibi? I'm yelling she's so adorable**

 **No idea when I'll have the next chapter out, BUT I WILL KEEP WRITING. Because I love writing this.**


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